The beef trade continues to work off a positive footing this week, with the mood music pointing to a period of stability and maybe even price rises ahead.

The agent verdict before Christmas was that factory lairages would be backed up with cattle until at least the end of January.

This was due to what they said was a lot of farmers keeping cattle to sell in the new tax year of 2026.

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This glut of cattle hasn’t materialised, with agents actively sourcing cattle in the last week for the next few weeks’ kill.

There were even reports this week of some factories shifting some of this week’s supplies to next week to try to space out the supply of cattle over a number of weeks such is the challenge with numbers.

Bullocks are working off base prices of €7.00/kg to €7.10/kg, with more moving at the higher end in the last seven days.

Heifers are working off a base price range of €7.10/kg to €7.20/kg.

Smaller finishers are advised to bargain hard, with a lot of agents starting out the buying process at the lower end of quotes and moving up when pressure is applied.

Larger suppliers have been able to squeeze a little more beyond the standard quotes in the last few days.

Some of these bigger feeders are growing in confidence of a price rise in the coming weeks and that has been reflected in some of the prices being paid for forward store cattle in marts this week.

Factory agents have also been very active in sourcing slaughter-fit cattle, paying the equivalent of €8/kg deadweight price and over it.

Aberdeen Angus breed bonuses remain at the lower end of the 20c to 30c/kg range, with 15c/kg on offer for in-spec Hereford cattle.

Cow trade

The cow trade is also steady, with R grading cows being priced at €6.80/kg to €6.90/kg.

U grading cows are still trading at €7/kg to €7.10/kg, while O grading cows are being bought for €6.60/kg to €6.70/kg.

P+3 cows are back a little further, with some factories trying to purchase P+3 cows at €6.20/kg to €6.30/kg.

The mart is still the best place to go if farmers have small numbers of cows to sell.

Bulls

Bulls have probably held the best out of all categories of stock, with R grading bulls still coming in at €7.25/kg and U grading bulls at €7.40/kg.

Specialised bull finishers have been able to squeeze a little more out of some processors.

Under-16-month bulls are working off a €7/kg to €7.10/kg base price to go on the grid. Bull finishers are finishing into heavier weights with the average

National kill

Last week’s kill came in at 30,944 head, a similar number to the week before.

There were no big changes in prime cattle processing, with the number of young bulls being slaughtered since the turn of the year continuing to grow.

There were 3,329 young bulls slaughtered last week, up from 3,153 the week before.

The number of young bulls slaughtered so far in 2026 stands at 8,791 head, up 2,267 head on the same period in 2025.

Last week’s kill was back 17% on the same week in 2025, with just over 6,000 fewer cattle slaughtered last week compared with 2025.

Outlook

There is a cautious optimism around the beef trade for the next 12 months, with tight supplies expected to underpin price for the foreseeable future.

This year’s kill could drop another 30,000 to 40,000, with some recovery expected in the second half of 2026.

Beef production across the world is expected to be down in 2026, with further contraction in UK and EU beef production.

UK beef production was back 4% in 2025, with EU beef production back 5.4% during the previous 12 months.