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The outlook for this week’s beef trade is difficult to summarise. There is no processing taking place in about 20 sites, either through protesters restricting entry of cattle or factories moving to cease processing.
The latter is reported to be the case with the Kepak Group and Slaney Foods, while Dawn plants and the majority of ABP plants are not processing.
There are reports that some independent plants currently processing could follow suit in the coming days.
As such, there is limited outlets for finished cattle, with this week’s kill expected to be in the region of 12,000 to 14,000 head.
This follows last week’s kill being recorded at a lower level of 22,172 head.
Looking at throughput pre- and post-protests commencing, the kill for the first 30 weeks of the year was recorded at 1,043,591 head, an increase of 43,449 head on the corresponding period in 2018.
This higher throughput has been eroded over the last six weeks, with the kill recorded at 168,795 head, a reduction of 40,487 head on the corresponding six-week period in 2018. It should be noted that the kill in autumn 2018 was well ahead of previous years.
Reports from before the protests began predicted that this year’s autumn kill was likely to be lower.
There is no change in prices offered. The general run of base prices paid is €3.45/kg to €3.50/kg for steers and €3.55/kg for heifers.
Isolated deals were reported earlier in the week for heifers at a base of €3.60/kg.
Cows also remain unchanged, at a range of €2.80/kg to €2.90/kg for P+3 grades, O grades at €2.90/kg to €3.05/kg and R grades anywhere from €3.05/kg to €3.20/kg.
The bull trade is also stagnant, with plants continuing to prioritise steer and heifer throughput and having little interest in bulls.
R grades range anywhere from €3.35/kg to €3.45/kg, while U grades are selling in the main from €3.45/kg to €3.55/kg.
Meanwhile, O grading bulls range from €3.15/kg at the lower end of the market to a top of €3.30/kg on average.
Bulls less than 16 months and trading on the grid are selling, in general, on a base of €3.40/kg to €3.45/kg.
Challenging trade
The trade in the North has come under even more pressure in the last week, with quotes easing 2p/kg, leaving U-3 base quotes opening as low as £3.12/kg to £3.14/kg.
Sterling continues to fluctuate and at Wednesday afternoon’s rate of 89.1p to the euro, this equates to €3.50/kg to €3.52/kg and €3.69/kg to €3.71/kg including VAT at 5.4%.
A high percentage of cattle are reported as trading from a U-3 base of £3.16/kg to £3.20/kg (€3.74/kg to €3.79/kg), with only sellers trading at the top end of the market exceeding this base with choice heifers.
More dairy cull cows are reported as coming on to the market, with O grading cow prices ranging from £2.35/kg to £2.50/kg (€2.78/kg to €2.96/kg) and R grades selling to a top price of £2.60/kg (€3.08/kg).
The number of cattle moving north for direct slaughter last week increased to 242 head, up from 72 head a fortnight ago.
The latest AHDB price report shows last week’s average British prices easing marginally.
Steers reduced by an average of 1.4p/kg, with R4Ls averaging £3.36/kg (€3.98/kg) and running 1p/kg behind R4L heifers.
This is in contrast with EU prices, with many countries recording a marginal increase (see page 28), leaving Irish prices running below the EU average for all classes of animals.
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