235-240c/kg base price offered for steers and heifers
The challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic were the last thing the Irish beef industry needed, after its blockades in 2019, an autumn of low prices, and a very weak 2020 start to the beef trade at factories.
It is easy for farmers to blame processors for the latest collapse in prices being paid for beef cattle.
But they are up against a drastic reduction in demand for prime beef cuts in particular and falling prices across all beef markets, as part of the Covid-19 fallout.
No one can foretell where it will bottom out, even the experts cannot predict when life will return to somewhere near normal again, and the trail of destruction left in the wake of Covid-19 will be with us all until that time.
We can only live in the present, but for beef finishers, the present is not a good place, price-wise.
There is no doubt now that spring beef finishers, the farmers with the most costly beef to produce, are taking a financial hammering.
Markets have continued to weaken, and prices have come back further at the factories for this week.
There was a sharp drop in the kill at factories for the shorter Easter working week, falling to 27,124 head, compared to 35,627 for week 15 last year.
Steers accounted for 11,182, with 8,203 heifers and 2,445 young bulls.
All three categories were well down compared to the same week in 2019.
The base price for steers is in a range between 235 cents/kg and 240 cents/kg for stock meeting the in-spec criteria.
Processors are more cautious about forward pricing of stock, which worries finishers that the lower end of the price range could be the best on offer within days.
The base for heifers is slightly stronger than for steers, at 240 cents/kg, but anyone trying their luck for extra is up against a stone wall.
For finishers with out-of-spec animals, particularly steers, whether that is on grade or weight, the penalties are heavy.
The reality is that processors are not showing much interest in buying cattle over the preferred weight, or of less favoured grades, and they are pricing such animals at under 300 cents/kg.
Young bulls are equally out of favour with the factories, and priced accordingly.
Given that they were not included in the categories to qualify for higher in-spec bonuses, in the 2019 review (and therefore are limited to a 12 cents/kg bonus on the grid), in general the prices on offer have dipped to at least 18 cents/kg less than the equivalent steer grade.
Demand for minced beef is weathering the lockdown storm best, and this is reflected in the more stable price pattern for cows at the factories.
Prices for R-grade cows are in a range of 265-285 cents/kg, with Os at 255-265 cents/kg, and Ps from 220 cents/kg to 250 cents/kg, depending on their weights.
