Factories crumbling on prices as supplies tighten

Steers Heifers Cull Cows Young Bulls CATTLE prices over the weekend were like the Irish rugby team gathering momentum and driving for the line.

The line in question is a base price of €4.00/kg for heifers and €3.90/kg for bullocks and by yesterday morning it had been breached. Factory resistance was crumbling, particularly in the case of the heifer — especially in the midlands and the west — as numbers tightened.

Factories were still quoting €3.95/kg for heifers and €3.85/kg for bullocks yesterday with some reported in the south as being a shake less.

However, the tide has turned the further north you go, with one man in the west telling me that agents were “bidding one another €4.00 for heifers”.

There is a division within this apart from geography. Factories appear resistant to giving any more than €3.95/kg for Hereford or Angus heifers on the basis that both may qualify for various bonuses.

That situation may yet improve should numbers of in-spec cattle tighten further. The bullock while still being quoted as low as €3.80-3.85/kg in reality is trading at €3.90/kg, with some deals being closed only after the factory yields on transport.

Quotes for bulls also appear to be on the up with under-16 month stock reportedly making €3.95/ kg for U grades, €3.85/kg for Rs, with O grades on €3.75/ kg, that’s a base increase of 5c/kg across the board. The cow job is “steady to improved” with R grades on €3.40-3.50/k, with Os at €3.30-3.40, while your better P+ is €3.10-3.15/kg with lesser Ps around €3.00/kg.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on carcase beef imports prove that considerable quantities of carcase beef came into Ireland in 2016 for further processing.

This is a trade that has often been accused by farmers of undermining the Irish farm gate price.

These arguments aside, the figures for the last few years show that while the importation of fresh or chilled carcase beef from abroad in full sides, halves or quarters was only slightly reduced in 2016 at 8,088 tonnes as opposed to the 2015 figure of 8,167 tonnes, it was still far ahead of the 7,204 tonne figure for imported carcase beef in 2014.

Simple maths would suggest that, taking an average full carcase weight of 370kg, that 8,088 tonnes of carcase beef equates to 21,000 cattle. Why would anyone want to move the majority of this raw product from a high priced market, i.e. the UK, —7,638 tonnes in 2016 —to a lower priced market, Ireland? ( In this case the UK means Scotland, England and Wales only.) The value of that 8,088 tonnes of carcase beef was €16,976,000 when it arrived here.

Farmers no doubt will wonder what it was worth once it had been chopped and boxed, and also what credit Ireland got on the packaging?