36,900 head per week ends price increase hopes

THE intake of cattle at the factories has hit a year-to-date peak, as farmers “sell out’, conceding that the price increase they had anticipated has melted away in a flood of cattle into the plants.

Three weeks ago, industry sources were publicly advising farmers that a price increase of 10 to15 cent/kg before the end of the year was likely.

But they added that it could depend on supply – and therein lay the most important deciding factor for beef prices moving northwards any time during the remaining weeks of this year.