Beef price under pressure due to rise in cattle intake

Beef prices have come under more pressure at the factories this week as the intake of cattle at the plants shows signs of increasing.

Resistance from producers to any cut in prices is ensuring that most of this week’s kill is coming in at last week’s quoted prices, but the factories are trying very hard to reduce the cost of purchases forward into next week, although overall expectations are that margins gained by the processors will be slight.

Base price quotes for steers for this week range from 400 to 405 cents/kg (143p-145p/lb) a reduction of at least 5 cents/kg. Most of the steers are being bought at 405=410 cents/kg, which was the base range quoted for last week. Quality lots are making a shade more.