Beef trade: No movement from 340c/kg for in-spec prime cattle

It’s a case of ‘as you were’ for beef quotes this week, with beef processors maintaining prices on offer at 340c/kg for heifers and steers.

Despite this, weight restrictions and ‘out of spec’ penalties continue to operate, with factory-farmer relationship playing a role here.

The general run of prices for cows are 230-250c/kg for P-grading animals and up to 260c/kg for O-grade cows, with those falling into the R-grade category starting at 265-270c/kg or higher in some plants.

In terms of bull prices, factories are offering 320c/kg for O-grades. R-grade bull quotes stand at last week’s level of 330c/kg, while U-grading bulls are making 340c/kg.

Beef kill falls

Official figures show that some 25,225 cattle were processed in Department of Agriculture approved beef export plants last week. If we were to exclude calves, this figure would equate to 24,486 head.

This is 6,355 head behind the same week in 2019, when some 31,580 head were slaughtered. The addition of last week’s throughput brings the cumulative kill for the year – up to and including last week – to over 562,000 head.

Looking at the figures in more detail, last week’s steer and heifer supplies stood at 9,917 head and 7,823 head respectively; when combined, this represents 70% of the total weekly kill last week.

Cow slaughterings accounted for the third-largest segment of the kill at 4,043 head – down from 4,078 head the week previous – while young bull and aged bull throughput stood at 1,968 head and 735 head respectively.

As mentioned above, over 562,000 cattle have been slaughtered in Ireland this year – a fall of 11,325 head when compared to the corresponding period in 2019.

Throughput increases have been witnessed in the steer category. However, young bull, aged bull, cow and heifer throughput has declined on 2019 levels.