Narrow range in beef prices

As prices continued unchanged last week, returns for the first five weeks of 2007 show a narrowing of the price range for beef animals at the factories to less than 6 cents/kg (2p/lb) dividing the highest and the lowest.

Analysis of the farmer pay sheet payments to February 3 confirm there was less than 1p/lb in the average paid for R4L bullocks at the top 10 factories in the country at which the price ranged from 107p/lb to 107.8p/lb.

However, narrow as the margin of difference was, farmers supplying most of the southern-based factories continued to take less for their cattle. Only two southern factories — Kepak (Watergrasshill) and AIBP (Waterford) — qualified for a place among the ‘top 10’ on average price paid.