Beef Report: Prices stabilise as yard-finished supplies are gone
Consumer Experiencing They The Resistance And Are Price Stress That Have Markets Processors Weakened
The beef quotes at the factories have stabilised this week, after consecutive weeks of downward slide which has wiped up to 20 cents/kg off the returns to producers.
The quoted base price for steers is unchanged at 500 cents/kg and the base for heifers at 505 cents/kg, while the young bull prices are at a premium of up to 25 cents/kg over the comparative steer grade.
It may be hard to describe a base price for prime beef animals, that is lower than a year ago, as welcome news for producers, but let's take hope that more stability is an indication that the downward slide may have bottomed out for now.
Farmer representatives have been more vocal over the past week on calling the processors to account for the widening margin between Irish and British beef prices, plus supplies are expected to tighten further over the coming weeks.
The yard-finished supplies are gone, or almost gone, and grass-finished cattle in any decent numbers are some weeks away as an added consequence of the late wet spring on farms.
Processors stress that the markets have weakened and they are experiencing consumer price resistance, but there is still market for at least around 30,000-31,000 head of intake per week at the factories.
The cow prices remain stable with strong demand in particular for well-finished heavy cows.
The R-grade cows are making 460-480 cents/kg at the factories for this week, which is not far off the price being paid for prime beef animals at the same factories, but the processors will point out that is what the consumer market is looking for.
Supplying orders for the manufacturing and catering sectors is key business for the processors and the display cabinet at any supermarket is indicative of the balance of consumer purchasing preference of mince versus the high end beef cuts.
At the same time, the intake of cows at the factories year to date is up 12% on the same period last year — equivalent to an extra 18,540 cows in 2024, reflecting some reduction in dairy cow numbers.
Keeping supply up to at least that level could be more challenging for a number of weeks ahead as the available supply of grass-finished cattle gradually builds up.
The intake for last week was down 500 head on the previous week at 31,377 head, which was 400 less than for the corresponding week in 2023.
Most categories have slipped back at this stage, with the kill for last week including 11,244 steers, 9,153 heifers, 7,195 cows, and 2,779 young bulls.
