Supply of 36,400 cattle last week kept lid on prices
The beef trade has now entered the busy countdown to Christmas, but the continued strong flow of cattle has left the factories in a comfort zone.
Overall, the quotes for this week are unchanged, at a base of 385-390 cents/kg for steers. A few deals are reported at up to 395 cents/kg, but are hard to negotiate this week, with no pressure on processors to get sufficient supply.
Heifers are making a premium of 5 cents/kg over the steers, in s similar trading pattern to the males.
Expectations that supplies would tighten ahead of the Christmas kill have once again proved unreliable — making such predictions in the cattle business is as hazardous as ever.
Around 36,400 head were supplied last week, adding another weekly intake at the higher end of the supply pattern for 2014, the most recent weeks of which have reached an eight-year high.
While the recent IFA protests at the factories helped to increase the base price 25 cents/kg, the focus is now switching to expectations for the early weeks of 2015.
The lifting of weight restrictions comes side by side with the commitment that all non-spec animals from QA farms will qualify for a bonus in 2015. The amount has not been clarified, and it has been agreed conditional on ‘neutral’ cost to the processors. This suggests that the QA bonus will be reduced on the priority grades, or the base price for non-spec animals adjusted. The processors have yet to clarify the price system adjustment going forward, a clarification which will be very anxiously awaited by all beef producers.
There has been slight slippage in cow prices at the lower end of the scale. The base for O/P-grade cows has eased to 300-330 cents/kg, while demand and price remain firm for the better quality R-grade cows, at up to 340-345 cents/kg.
The beef trade in Britain has been unchanged over the past week, with R4L-grade steers averaging equivalent to 483 cent/kg (including VAT). Trade was steady. with demand best for round and forequarter cuts. However trade was reported as slow for fillets, striploins and rumps.
In France. little change in trade was reported last week. Retail promotions continued to take place across a range of cuts.
