The European (EU) average beef price has now surpassed that of the UK’s, while Irish price remains well behind, according to data from Bord Bia.
The Irish food board’s cattle price dashboard’s most recent data from April 2, shows that Irish beef price is running 40c/kg behind the average EU beef price.
The data uses the average price paid for R3-grade prime male cattle, which is the steer price in Ireland and the UK, and the young bull price in mainland Europe. The price quoted is in €/kg deadweight excluding VAT.
Commenting on the trends, Bord Bia’s Great Britain meat market specialist, Emmet Doyle said: “Tight beef supplies across northern Europe, especially Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, have seen the EU R3 young-bull price increasing week on week.
“The EU market is highly competitive as European processors and consolidators are looking to meet their customer contracts, especially for forequarter beef which is used for mince and burgers.
The last time EU beef price surpassed the UK beef price was from September 2010 until April 2011.
The most recent data from Bord Bia shows that on April 2, this year, the average Irish R3-grade steer price stood at €4.76/kg, with the average UK R3-grade steer price at €5.08/kg and the average EU R3-grade young-bull price at €5.16/kg.
Also commenting on the trends, the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA’s) livestock chairperson Brendan Golden said: “It’s the German price that’s making the EU price-average so high, because the German prices have gone mad the past few weeks.”
The German R3-grade young-bull price had surpassed €6/kg recently however, and Golden noted that while the cost of getting beef out to our markets has to be taken into account, “there’s still too much of a gap between Irish price and what our key markets are returning”.