Beef processors tighten control on price rises

There’s still a very positive tone to the trade overall, writes Martin Ryan

Base quotes for steers purchased on the grid range from 750–760c/kg.

Beef processors are showing signs of exercising more “control” over further increases in prices being paid for stock supplied to their plants this week.

“Some of the factories are willing to pay a few c/kg more to get the stock this week, but others are trying to stick to last week’s prices — there’s a definite sign of the brakes being applied to the trade,” says one supplier.

It’s a fairly accurate assessment of the overall situation, with slightly larger numbers of cattle moving to the factories over the past few weeks — aided, no doubt, by deteriorating weather conditions and the time of year prompting more producers to house cattle or move them on.

It’s an important time of year for factories to maintain throughput. They’ll want to secure decent intake over the coming weeks to build up supplies for pre-Christmas orders — but they appear keen to achieve that while keeping further price increases to a minimum.

There’s still a very positive tone to the trade overall, with returns for a higher percentage of supplies edging over €8/kg, and the ‘flat price’ deal option increasingly available to suppliers offering a mix of good-quality animals.

Base quotes for steers purchased on the grid range from 750–760c/kg. Securing a deal above 750c/kg base is proving more difficult this week.

Farmers are now weighing up the cost of holding back finished animals without any certainty of further price increases.

It’s a similar story in the heifer trade, with grid-based prices ranging from 760–770c/kg, and a few c/kg more being paid for larger numbers of quality animals.

There’s strong interest in Angus and Hereford cattle, which can qualify for the handsome breed bonus in addition to the quality assurance bonus. An increasing proportion of these are now trading on flat prices ranging from 810–830c/kg.

There’s also ongoing strong demand for cows, with R-grade animals ranging 740–750c/kg, while young bulls are in demand at up to 770c/kg for R-grade stock.

Supply dropped marginally to 29,776 head last week — the second consecutive week holding close to the 30,000 head mark.

It also showed a big fall in weekly deficit intake compared with the same week in 2024 — dropping to 4,000 head from a high of 15,000 head/week earlier in the autumn.

Last week’s kill included 12,442 steers, 8,593 heifers, 6,867 cows and 1,089 young bulls.