Ball firmly in beef farmers’ court with further price rises

Beef Prices May

Beef prices were up another notch across plants in Northern Ireland this week (May 2022).

That is according to the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC), which in its weekly market report,

Quotes from the major processing plants for in-spec U-3 grade prime cattle ranged from 392-430p/kg, while most plants put between 416-430p/kg on the table for heifers and steers.

Meanwhile, quotes for good quality O+3 grade cows continued to range from 280-356p/kg across the plants this week.

According to the LMC, the deadweight trade for prime cattle “continued to firm” in NI.

• The average steer price went up by 1.7p/kg to 425.7p/kg last week. The R3 steer price last week was 435.8p/kg, up 2.1p/kg from the previous week. The spokesperson noted that this is the highest reported weekly R3 steer price to date in 2022;
• The average heifer price in NI last week was up 2.2p/kg to 428.8p/kg, while the R3 heifer price was up also up by 2.2p/kg to 437.2p/kg;
• The cow trade “remained firm” in NI last week, with the average cow price up by 6.7p/kg to 337.2p/kg. Meanwhile, the O3 cow price rose by 4.1p/kg to 362.5p/kg.

Throughput

Moreover, prime cattle throughput last week amounted to 8,110 head, up 1,081 head from the previous week when plants killed 7,029 prime cattle locally. This is also up by 1,032 head from the 7,078 prime cattle NI plants slaughtered during the same week in 2021.

Last week, cow throughput in NI came to 2,133 head, which was up by 140 cows from the previous week when 1,993 cows were slaughtered in NI plants.

This is up 541 cows compared to the 1,592 cows killed locally during the corresponding week in 2021.

Exports and imports

Imports from ROI for direct slaughter in NI plants last week comprised 184 prime cattle and 94 cows.

Meanwhile, exports from NI for direct slaughter in ROI plants last week consisted of three prime cattle, 97 cows and eight bulls.

Meanwhile, exports to GB for direct slaughter continued at recent levels, with 35 cows exported.

Other articles on That’s Farming:

• Conventional beef farmers getting ‘paid more’ than organic producers