Improvement in factory beef prices
A base price of 280 cent/kg (100p/lb) - paid for R4L grade - broke the hold which farmers had placed on releasing cattle and supplies moved a little easier in response to the lift in prices to 280 cent/kg which had been set by producers as a minimum price in the post Slaughter Premia trade. Suppliers of U3 animals were receiving 298 cent/kg (over 106p/lb) while O4 animals were discounted to 268 cent/kg (95p/lb) in accordance with the new grid scale of payment.
Some producers reported getting 280 cent/kg (100p/lb) flat price for numbers of mostly R grade cattle. But some factories were quoting a base price of 278 cent/kg (99p/lb) and others were claiming that they were getting supplies of cattle at that price and were not being put under pressure to pay more.
Most of the processors were keen to buy on the grid price scale and were insisting they were adhering rigidly to the scale prices as per the new grid, which is heavily penalising the poorer grading stock.
Total supplies for last week amounted to 17,017 head - which was about 50% of the supply for the same week in 2004. Bullock supplies last week came to 7,033, a big increase on the intake of 1,653 head the previous week, but still well down on the 15,756 head which they took in on the corresponding week in 2004.
A further rise in the supply will ease the pressure on the processors and slow further improvements in the weeks ahead, if the numbers continue to come freely enough to satisfy demand to meet order for markets which are not over-exciting.
