The November beef trade has opened with factories reducing their price offers for beef cattle.

Farmer beef prices have been under slight pressure in recent weeks as weekly kill numbers surpassed 36,500 in the week ending Sunday, October 25.

While factories have reduced price offers again this week, many of the cattle booked in for this week are in at the higher rates from last week.

There is some speculation amongst factory agents that prime cattle supplies could tighten somewhat this month as the major Christmas beef kills get underway which could potentially help give rise to a lift in prime cattle prices.

Factory quotes: Heifers and steers

This week, heifers are being quoted at €6.60-€6.65/kg and €6.70/kg on the grid in cases.

Steers are being quoted at €6.50-€6.55/kg and up to €6.60/kg on the grid.

With both heifers and steers, some suppliers are managing to secure higher price rates than the quotes for this week.

Also of note, there is some variation between outlets on base price offers this week with some outlets stronger on price than others.

Interestingly, some outlets were slower than usual to give their opening price offers for cattle this week.

Cows

The cow trade this week has seen processors move to take money off farmer prices also, with 5-10c/kg coming off cow price quotes in cases this week.

Despite this, some outlets are still paying €6.00-€6.10/kg and more for good batches of 'P' grade cows this week.

Elsewhere, some outlets are opening offers at €5.80-€5.90/kg for 'P grade cows but will likely be paying more to regular suppliers to secure significant cow numbers.

Other outlets are tabling lower cow-price offers this week and are aiming to keep kill sheets filled out with as many prime cattle as possible.

'O' grade cows are being quoted at €6.00-€6.10/kg and 'R' grade cows are being quoted at €6.30/kg this week.

Bulls

Some agents have reported up to €7.00/kg is being paid this week for good batches of well-finished bulls.

Despite this, opening offers are running lower than this. Under-24-month bulls are being quoted at €6.70/kg for 'U' grades and €6.60/kg for 'R' grades.

'O' grade bulls are being quoted at €6.40-€6.50/kg and 'P' grade bulls are being quoted at €6.30-€6.40/kg.

Under-16-month bulls are being quoted at €6.50-€6.55/kg on the grid.

More money is being secured for bulls in some cases this week than the above factory price offers.