Rare state of affairs for late September

ANOTHER strong week for the beef trade, with demand outstripping supply and the upward prices trend continuing, with factory agents under pressure to secure sufficient cattle — a rare state of affairs for late September, which farmers can expect to continue for some time, barring unexpected disruption.

When the factories talk about a “tight” supply of cattle, they are admitting that they are not getting enough to supply the demand. The throughput is close to 40,000 head, which is not far off the usual annual peak, which is normally coincides with the lowest prices of the year.

But such is the strength of the beef markets that processors are coming under pressure to get more cattle. The result over the past week was an improvement in prices of 3 to 6 cent/kg (1p or 2p/lb) by most of the factories.