Slight increases for beef

Marts: While the upward trend in beef prices has been maintained, the pace of the increase has eased at the factories where average prices improved by 1-2c/kg last week.

There was very little movement in the higher prices paid by the processors, leaving most of the gains from an improvement in returns from the lower-paying plants.

Nevertheless, the farmer pay sheet returns show margins of up to 21c/kg (7p/lb) between the factories for similar grade stock — in excess of €1,000 on a load of cattle — to be gained or lost, depending on where the animals are sold.