Exporters continue to drive the weanling trade, with no sign of it slowing up for the rest of 2024.

Storms sometimes cause disruption to boats at this time of year, but so far so good for ships leaving Irish ports with cattle.

Everything has gone according to plan for the last number of weeks, with a further five ships set to dock in Irish ports between now and Christmas, taking another 10,000 store cattle and weanlings out of the system by the end of 2024.

This is on top of hundreds of lorries also leaving on a roll-on roll-off basis, with huge numbers now moving across France to Italy, Spain, eastern European and north Africa.

Exports for the year to date are running 12% ahead of 2023 figures and 28% ahead of the 2022 live export figures.

Weanling exports are currently running 63% ahead of 2023 levels and a massive 89% ahead of the 2022 figure. This year will likely see weanling exports double on 2022 levels.

Exports to Northern Ireland remain steady, with higher numbers being exported for further feeding in recent weeks.

So far in 2024, there have been 47,548 head of cattle exported to Northern Ireland either for further feeding or direct slaughter. This is at a similar level to 2023 and almost 7,000 head higher than the same period in 2022.

Cattle being exported for direct slaughter also remain steady at 600 to 700 head per week over the last six weeks.

Slaughter-fit cattle remain in very tight supply north of the border and that is pushing factory agents south buying cattle for direct slaughter and also for further feeding.

The only fly in the ointment for live exports in 2024 is the Netherlands market, which has seen almost 30,000 fewer calves exported in 2024 compared with 2023.

This is on the back of nitrates restrictions in the Netherlands and a changing veal industry.

While we may think this is a problem at the moment, it’s nothing to the problem coming down the tracks on IBR and an essential locking out of Irish calves from the Netherlands market from 2026 onwards due to the fact that Ireland has no IBR control programme in place.

Staying with exports, it was interesting to see Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan instructing last week to continue importing live cattle from Brazil and Uruguay to lower domestic meat prices.

The decision to import live cattle from Brazil and Uruguay aims to reduce meat prices in Turkey. In the first 10 months of 2024, Turkey was the second-largest destination for live cattle exports from Brazil, accounting for 24% of the approximately one million head shipped. Iraq was Brazil’s top buyer, receiving just under 400,000 head.

Martbids

Taking a look at this week’s Martbids analysis table, we see that heifers were the highlight of this week’s trade, with all weight and quality categories up on price.

Bullocks were back a little, with the weanling trade remaining steady, except for heavy bulls, which saw a drop this week. Weanling heifers also saw good demand this week from mostly farmer buyers.