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Latest figures from the Department of Agriculture show that the weekly beef kill continues to slide.

At 27,940, last week’s throughput at meat plants was among the lowest since late August 2013, excluding the three-day ‘week’ at Christmas. The beef kill is now trending downwards with the kill under 30,000 for three consecutive weeks.

The steer kill was over 10,000 again this week but is now some 0.83% behind the same week last year. So far this year a total of 292,357 steers have been killed up 15% on 2013 at this stage.

Last week saw the heifer kill below 7,000 for the third week in a row. This is well below the 9,000 mark which has been reached on many occasions this year. In contrast to steers the heifer kill is below the same week last year which was over 7,000.

The cow kill last week was 6,830 head more or less similar to the same week last year.

Prices

According to latest reports from the ICSA steer prices remain unchanged this week at €3.70/kg – €3.75/kg base. Heifers are up slightly at €3.75/kg – €3.80/kg. Quality bulls are making €3.50 – €3.60/kg and cows are between €3.30 – €3.50/kg.