Prices have held firm on last week, starting off on Tuesday as they finished up on Friday.

The May bank holiday week would normally see a reduced kill but with factories only killing three to four days, it’s likely to not affect numbers this year.

Some factories are still getting away with buying steers and heifers at a base of €3.40/kg but the harder seller is generally able to get €3.45/kg.

Heifers and cows

A base price of €3.50/kg is available for heifers towards the north of the country.

Cows have continued on an upward trend in recent weeks, with €2.90 still available for good R grades.

Some specialist cow finishers have also been able to secure €3.10 for R+ cows this week. P+3 cows continue to trade at €2.60-€2.65/kg with O grade cows in the €2.70-€2.75/kg range.

Bulls

Some factories have lifted quotes to €3.40 for bulls with no penalties for weight, while young bulls continue to trade at €3.40-€3.45/kg.

Factories continue to operate way under capacity due to demand issues and disruptions related to COVID-19.

The kill for the week ending 20 April 2020 dropped to 25,602. The young bull kill was down 1,885 on the same week in 2019 at 1,995, a drop of almost 50%.

Many factory agents are saying finished cattle are in short supply. With this in mind, and as the country slowly gets back to some kind of normality in the coming weeks, beef quotes are likely to keep moving up in May.