Beef prices Nov 2021
Factories across Northern Ireland increased young bull, heifer, and steer prices this week, whilst cull cow quotes fell.
The beef price increase comes following the previous week’s declines of between 0.2p/kg to 2.5p/kg.
According to the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC), quotes for in-spec U-3 grade prime cattle ranged from 386-394p/kg.
In its weekly market report, it outlined that the cow trade “remained under pressure” this week. Base quotes for O+3 grade cows varied from 260-290p/kg.
“The NI deadweight trade for prime cattle continued to firm last week from the previous week,” a spokesperson for the commission said.
- The average steer price increased by a penny to 392.6p/kg, while the R3 steer price rose by 2.4p/kg to 403.2p/kg;
- Meanwhile, the average heifer price was up 0.5p/kg to 395.1p/kg. The R3 heifer price up 1.7p/kg to 403.7p/kg. In the same week last year, the R3 heifer price was 373.3p/kg, 30.4p/kg behind current levels.
- The average young bull price was up 3.7p/kg to 379.4p/kg, while the R3 young bull price increased by a penny to 389.5p/kg.
- Meanwhile, as stated previously, the NI cow trade “came under pressure”. The average cow price back 5p/kg to 268.8p/kg. The NI O3 cow price fell 3.1p/kg to 301.6p/kg. However, according to the LMC, the NI O3 cow price is still the strongest in the UK despite this decline.
Throughput
Prime cattle throughput amounted to 7,324, a decrease of 610 head from the previous week when factories processed 7,934 head.
However, this is a similar throughput compared to the 7,267 cattle processed in the same week last year.
Meanwhile, a total of 2,835 cows were processed in NI last week, up 289 head from the previous week.
Exports and imports
Imports of prime cattle from ROI for direct slaughter in NI decreased to 139 head with 112 cows also imported.
The LMC pointed out that this brings prime cattle imports from ROI to NI to 13,346 head during 2021 to date.
Meanwhile, there were no cattle imported from GB for direct slaughter locally last week.
Exports from NI to ROI last week comprised two prime cattle and 43 cows, with no cattle exported from NI to GB for direct slaughter.
GB beef prices:
- According to the LMC, the average steer price in GB rose by 1.6p/kg to 412.9p/kg while the R3 steer price fell by 0.4p/kg to 419.4p/kg;
- Meanwhile, the average heifer price in GB was up 2.9p/kg to 410.9p/kg, with the R3 heifer price up 1.9p/kg to 420.1p/kg. “This brings the differential between the GB and NI R3 heifer price to 16.4p/kg,” the LMC noted.
- The GB deadweight cow trade “remained under pressure”, with the average price in this category back 1.3p/kg to 257.7p/kg and the O3 cow price back 1.5p/kg to 284.5p/kg.
ROI beef prices
According to the LMC, in the ROI, deadweight prime cattle prices reported “notable increases across all grades”.
“The R3 steer price in ROI was the equivalent of 357.1p/kg, up 2.3p/kg from the previous week. This puts the differential between NI and ROI at 46.1p/kg or £161 on a 350kg carcase.”
“The R3 heifer price in ROI last week increased by 3.5p/kg to 362.8p/kg. The O3 cow price in ROI was the equivalent of 294.7p/kg, up 0.4p/kg from the previous week,” the LMC concluded.
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