Beef mart report: Beef market trends put pressure on cattle prices

There is a strong sense of a tougher trade for beef animals at factories this week, as the strength of supply continues to pressurise prices being paid for stock.

The intake at the factories has fully recovered to pre-Christmas levels, more than enough for processors to meet all requirements from a market place in which the UK trade has weakened, and continental markets are not very exciting.

These trends help to explain why the trade this week can be described as stable at the base prices, at best.