The weekly supply of factory cattle has fallen for the third consecutive week, according to latest figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
This trend is in contrast to the same three-week period of last year when weekly cattle supplies were increasing.
A total of 31,593 cattle (excluding veal) were slaughtered in the week ending Sunday, July 23, bringing the cumulative 2023 beef kill to 931,208 head of cattle (excluding veal).
The table below gives an overview of the beef kill for the week ending Sunday, July 23, and the cumulative beef kill this year:
Type Week ending
Sunday, July 23Equivalent last
yearCumulative
2023Cumulative
2022Young Bulls 1,628 2,598 76,660 86,003 Bulls 651 605 16,052 16,054 Steers 13,753 13,934 346,094 357,363 Cows 7,096 7,826 220,995 229,282 Heifers 8,465 8,779 271,407 279,811 Total 31,593 33,742 931,208 968,513
As can be seen from the table above, the cumulative beef kill to date this year is 37,305 head of cattle below last year.
The number of cattle slaughtered in all categories has fallen, which is expected to be the trend for the remainder of the year.
Many sites have been operating at reduced capacity since late February of this year due to the drop in cattle supply.
Traditionally, the numbers of finished cattle available tends to increase sharply as the grazing season comes to an end but it remains to be seen to what extent this trend will materialise this year.
The chart below shows the weekly beef supply trends for this year compared to last year:
As the graph above indicates, weekly kill numbers had been increasing throughout June, but the size of the weekly beef kills has been falling throughout July.
A look at the Bord Bia Beef Market Tracker show as of Saturday, July 15, the Irish Composite Price is €4.61/kg – 20c/kg below the Export Benchmark Price.