Yesterday marked the start of the first full week of processing after the Christmas period and reports suggest that factories are anxious for cattle, but are slow to increase base quotes.
Last week, we saw a number of processors that were originally working off lower base price increase quotes by 5c/kg – bringing prices to 355c/kg for steers and 360c/kg for heifers.
However, with the pool of cattle available for factories tightening – at the higher end of the market – there are reports of heifers at 365c/kg in some cases; the top prices reported for steers is 360c/kg.
If we take, for example, at the higher base quotes, cattle that meet all the criteria for available bonuses, this would leave prices close to the 380-390c/kg mark or higher in some instances.
In addition, there is little change to the bull trade, with continued variation across plants.
Bull base quotes amount to 345c/kg for R grades in the main, with O-grades hovering around the 315-330c/kg mark; 270-310c/kg is being quoted for P-grade types and U-grades are being bought for approximately 350c/kg.
Similar to the bulls, there is a wide variation in prices available for cows. Factory buyers are currently starting negotiations with farmers at 270-275c/kg for P-grade cows, 280-285c/kg for O-grade animals and 300-305c/kg for R-grade lots.
Price variation can also be used to describe the cow trade, with factory agents currently starting negotiations with farmers at 270-275c/kg for P-grade cows, 280-285c/kg for O-grade animals and 300-305c/kg for R-grade lots.
Official 2019 kill
As many would expect, the 2019 national beef kill is well behind 2018 levels. Last year, we witnessed a nationwide protest that brought lairages, kill floors and boning halls to a standstill.
While the year began at a similar pace to the last few months of 2018, with relatively high kills week-on-week for the start of the year, it wasn’t until March when the factories’ pool of cattle started to take its seasonal dip.
Cattle supplies throughout the summer months hovered around the 30,000-35,000 head mark, before the protests took centre stage in late July.
From here on, the beef kill fluctuated and reached a low of approximately 10,000 head during one particular week in September.
After the ‘Beef Sector Agreement’ was born mid-September, processing resumed at a slow rate before reaching a steady supply of cattle in the months of October, November and December – averaging around 37,000-38,000 head – before reaching a 2019 high of 40,214 head in late November.
With all of the data now available, up until the week ending December 29, some 1,737,285 head of cattle were slaughtered in Department of Agriculture approved beef export plants in 2019.
This includes the last week of the year, which saw 12,442 head slaughtered in beef plants.
- Young bull: 209,275 (+4,546 head or +2.2%);
- Bull: 34,575 (+3,811 head or +12%);
- Steer: 628,174 (-40,894 head or -6%);
- Cow: 347,312 (-49,424 head or -12%);
- Heifer: 503,918 (+16,855 head or +3.4%);
- Total: 1,737,285 (-61,009 head or -3.3%).
Much of this decrease in throughput can be attributed to a fall in steer and cow slaughterings.
One of the reasons for the decline in the number of steers killed can be attributed to many farmers switching to bull-beef finishing operations in search of higher margins.
This is echoed by the increase in the number of bulls slaughtered in Irish plants throughout 2019.
The high number of cows slaughtered during 2018 was mainly due to the summer drought, which saw many farmers cull passengers on farm to reduce feed demand, so this explains the lower throughput in 2019.