High end of beef market starts to harden as grid pricing returns

This is a four-day working week for the factories, with Good Friday out and the Easter Monday holiday making next week similar, but the plants are showing no interest in securing a higher intake on the operating days.

The factories are maintaining a harder line on prices for stock this week as they continue to tighten on the higher returns to producers.

The determination to enforce a "cooling off" has hardened, but the experts maintain it is more about a "market price correction" than any downturn in the trade forward, insisting that the outlook remains positive for the coming months.

"The finished cattle numbers will continue to be tight for May, and the factories will require numbers to keep up, but they do want to cool down the expectations of producers on higher prices," said one observer.

Baseline prices have been maintained at last week's level, but deals to return above the baseline have become few and far between, and it is much harder to get a deal based on a flat price.

The base for steers this week is at 760–770c/kg. It is a bit harder to get the higher end of the range as those who paid at the higher level last week have pulled back.

A clampdown on the increasing number of cattle going through the factories in recent weeks on 'flat' prices is reported to have been hot on the head this week, and most of the factories are offering quotes "on the grid" only.

It is a similar pattern for the heifers on a base ranging 770–780c/kg. The good R-grade cows are making 720–730c/kg, which leaves them very little short of the prime beef prices, and the young bulls are making up to 780c/kg for R-grade.

This is a four-day working week for the factories, with Good Friday out and the Easter Monday holiday making next week similar, but the plants are showing no interest in securing a higher intake on the operating days.

There are reports of more "intake management" being applied at some of the plants where cattle being offered for kill this week are being pushed back to next week to balance supply numbers.

However, prices to producers in the UK have eased by up to 20p/kg (25c/kg) which may be the result of some consumer reaction to the higher beef prices.

In relation to the returns being received by Irish export factories, the food regulator analysis shows to the week ending March 23, the price for mince beef (5% fat) increased by 15.6%, while hindquarter increased by 7.6% and forequarter by 4.8%, which did not indicate any downturn.

Supply last week was in line with the recent weeks at 35,717 head, which was 1,300 more than for the same week in 2024.

The supply included 14,336 steers, 10,988 heifers, 7,947 cows and 1,678 young bulls.

The total supply to the beginning of April showed an increase of 11,000 head on the same period in 2024.