The beef trade remains steady at the moment. Base quotes for steers continue at 360c/kg, while base prices for heifers remain at €3.65/kg, with reports of deals of up to €3.70/kg being achieved for heifers in places.
Quotes for bulls were harder to come by this week, with some meat processing plants not quoting for bulls. The general of run prices for bulls range between €3.40/kg and €3.70/kg.
There remains a strong appetite for cows, as can be seen by last week’s kill where 915 more cows were processed in comparison to the previous week.
Quotes for P-grading cows are starting out at €2.90-3.00/kg, while quotes for O-grading cows are beginning at €3.10/kg. R and U-grading cows are trading at €3.30-3.40/kg.
Beef kill
The number of cattle slaughtered in Irish beef plants increased – by 1,783 head – last week and amounted to 35,536 head.
However, when compared to this time last year, the number of animals processed is still down 2,112 head.
Looking at the numbers in more detail, the number of young bulls processed came to 1,379 – an increase of 89 head in comparison to the previous week. While the number of aged bulls processed amounted to 550 head.
Taking a look at steers, the total number of bullocks amounted to 16,889 head, which represents an increase of 596 head.
Furthermore, the number of heifers processed amounted to 9,444 head – which represented an increase of 288 head.
Furthermore, the number of cows slaughtered increased by 915 head and amounted to 7,274 head.
Some 1,329,776 cattle have been slaughtered in Ireland this year – an increase of 34,283 head when compared to the corresponding period in 2019.
So far this year, throughput increases have been witnessed in the steer, heifer and cow categories.
However, young and aged bull throughput have declined. The young and aged bull categories are running at 56,341 head and 2,149 respectively behind 2019 levels.
