Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) livestock chair Declan Hanrahan has stated that low supplies of beef across Ireland’s key overseas markets leaves beef factories in positions to bring forward “further significant price increases” for farmers.

Hanrahan said that R grade steers are making over €7/kg in the UK, as processors there struggle to source adequate supplies to fill market demand, with a similar situation happening across the EU.

He pointed to Bord Bia optimism around 2025 prices amid a continuing tight supply-demand balance and the expectation that there will be close on 90,000 fewer cattle heading to Irish factories over the coming year as justification for a beef price bump.

The livestock chair put current beef prices at a base of €6/kg, with flat prices of €6.45/kg now offered by factories in their attempts to get their hands on finished cattle.

Extremely strong demand

Demand for cow beef is “extremely strong”, with prices starting around the €5.30/kg mark for larger batches of P grade cows and top-quality cull cows pushing above €5.70/kg in cases, according to Hanrahan.

He called on farmers not to be “misled by some factories offering quotes well below what is available, shop around and sell hard is vital to force factories to close the gap with the UK price, factories need the cattle and they will have to move to the reality of the market place to get them”.