Beef prices likely to remain firm
As slaughtering resumes following the holiday week-end, supplies remain tight. With reasonable demand for beef continuing, the processors will remain under pressure this week to further increase prices by some margin to secure sufficient cattle to fill orders.
With up to two-thirds of the factories now paying an average of 100p/lb for R grade bullocks and heifers, there is some resistance from processors to allowing prices to go much above that. However, supply and demand continue to dictate the trade and short of an increase in the supply of stock, the hard sell by producers with finished cattle has continued to force the price gradually upwards.
