Winter finishers continue to mount up losses on the back of increased pressure in the beef trade this week.
After a number of weeks of threatening to pull prices, factories dropped quotes by 10c/kg this week, with talk of more cuts coming next week.
Bullocks have dropped to €6.90/kg, with heifers dropping to a €7.00/kg base price.
Factory agents are also playing hardball when it comes to quotes, with some adopting a take-it-or-leave-it approach when it comes to buying cattle this week.
Some farmers are now waiting seven to 10 days to get cattle killed. This is despite the weekly kill consistently being almost 7,000 head behind the same week in 2025.
Casting an eye back to 2025, the bullock trade started out in the first week of January at €5.60/kg base price and rose to a €6.70/kg base price in the first week of March.
The 2026 trade started off at a base price of €7.05/kg for bullocks and has now dropped to €6.90/kg as we hit March.
Winter finishers once again will pay the price, as they are now staring into losses of €200-€300/head, having invested huge amounts of money filling sheds in autumn 2025.
The Certified Irish Angus Producer Group has this week announced a new five-year deal in conjunction with ABP and Kepak.
The deal includes a number of new initiatives including specific genetic criteria which will come into effect in 2028.
The bonus for in-spec bullocks and heifers weighing between 240kg and 380kg and grading between an O= to U+ with a fat score between 2+ and 4+ will be 20c/kg provided all conditions are met. This bonus will be available all year.
Members of the group will also have to enroll in Agnav and from 2029 will have to demonstrate completion of three sustainability actions for their farm.
It’s understood that Irish Hereford Prime will be announcing a similar bonus structure in the very near future.
Cows
The cow trade has also been hit this week, with R grading cows being priced at €6.60/kg to €6.70/kg, down 10c to 20c/kg on prices quoted two weeks ago.
U grading cows are now being bought at €6.90/kg, back 10c/kg in the last seven days.
O grading cows are being bought for €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg. P+3 cows are coming in at €6.10/kg to €6.20/kg, with some factories quoting lower for very light cows.
The mart trade for cows has held steady in the last seven days, with lower numbers appearing at marts.
Factory agents are working off last week’s quotes when purchasing cows in marts this week, but it’s unclear as to whether this will continue.
Bulls
Bulls have probably held the best out of all categories of stock, with R grading bulls still coming in at €7.10/kg and U grading bulls at €7.20/kg.
O grading bulls are working off an all-in price of €6.90/kg to €7.00/kg, while P grading bulls are being quoted at €6.80/kg to €6.90/kg depending on weight and flesh cover.
Last week’s kill came in at 32,540 head. This was up just over 800 head on the previous week.
The bull kill was the only category to drop, with just under 300 fewer bulls killed last week compared with the previous week.
There are over 50,000 fewer cattle killed for the first eight weeks of 2026, which makes the price pressure concerning.
Quotes across the water continue to come under pressure, with a number of factories dropping quotes by 2p to 3p/kg in the last week.
R4L bullocks are being bought at £6.25-£6.30/kg (€7.52-€7.59 including VAT).
The cow trade is reported to be steadier, with numbers of finished cows tight. The latest data from household purchases of beef for the last 12 weeks shows beef volumes down 6.7% on the back of higher prices.
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