Supplies of finished beef cattle once again witnessed a decline last week, which follows a similar trend to the week before, after witnessing week-on-week rises for six weeks prior to that.
With beef prices seeing an increase in the past fortnight, it shows that demand is strong as prices have increased in line with tightening supplies.
For the week ending February 26, the total number of young bulls, bulls, steers, cows and heifers processed at Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) beef factories stood at 34,825 head of cattle.
This figure for last week’s kill of 34,825 is a decline on the week before of 729 head.
Week-on-week beef kill changes:
- Young bulls: 2,923 head (-571 head or -16.34%);
- Bulls: 558 head (+88 head or +18.72%);
- Steers: 12,808 head (-128 head or -0.98%);
- Cows: 8,128 head (+243 head or +3.08%);
- Heifers: 10,408 head (-361 head or -3.35%);
- Total (excluding veal): 34,825 head (-729 head or -2.05%).
As we can see from the figures above, last week’s beef kill witnessed an increase in the bull and cow categories, with decreases being seen elsewhere in the young bull, heifer and steer categories.
Despite the drop in supplies in the last two weeks, figures from the DAFM show that the cumulative beef kill to date this year stands 22,705 head above the same period as last year and to date, totals 270,888 head (excluding veal).
This increase will have been aided by the increase seen in the six-week period prior to supplies falling two weeks ago.