Better quality animals drive on the beef prices’ rally
LAST week saw the mart trade continue the recovery in prices that began two weeks ago. All average prices on both the bullock and heifer tables are up, and some of them quite significantly.
The only exception was the top quarter animal in the 300399kg bullock section. The most noticeable improvements came not in the 500-599kg division, the section of the trade that for almost the entire year has been the leading light as far as prices are concerned, but in the lighter 400-499kg section. Here overall average prices rose 11c/ kg or €44-55/hd, while the top quarter animal jumped 17c/kg which is €68-85/hd.
Overall on the bullock table, mean averages rose between 7–11c/kg, with that 17c/kg in the top quarter of the better quality 400-499kg bullock being the biggest jump in terms of overall value of any of the sub divisions.
These figures reflect what all the mart managers I spoke to over the weekend told me, that the biggest jumps in price continue to be in the better quality animal. A number of my mini marts have comments from managers saying that the poorer animal, whether bullock or heifer remains a difficult sale. And no doubt they do.
However, last week’s Ringside returns show that both the poorer bullock and heifer did recover some recently-lost ground. Indeed, the 18c/kg recovery among the prices paid for those poorer quality bullocks in the 300-399kg division accounts entirely for the fact that average prices overall in this section rose 7c/kg. The next biggest jump in prices for those poorer type steers came in the 600kg+ section where that lesser animal rose 12c/ kg, which is a not insignificant €72/hd. From 400-599kg, those poorer type bullocks rose 5-9c/ kg or €30-45/hd.
The movement on the heifer table is not as dramatic but is still welcome. The section of heifers that saw the most action in the price improvement stakes was the 400-499kg division where improvements in prices were well balanced across the quality divisions. The overall combined average increase was 12c/kg, or from €48-60/ hd, with improvements in the prices for the top and bottom quarters finely balanced at 10c/kg and 11c/kg respectively. The 300-399kg heifer rose just 3c/kg on average, although the better conformation heifer at this weight was up 9c/kg. In the 500-599kg section, prices for those better animals at this weight stayed static at €2.31/kg, with the poorer animal improving by a modest €15-18/hd or 3c/ kg, leading to overall average prices remaining unchanged at €2.04/kg. Three weeks ago I posed the question as the first of the rains fell across the midlands and south of the country, whether the mart trade was like a coiled spring waiting to be released; last week that spring uncoiled, somewhat. Part of what drove mart prices up last week is down to the fact that factory prices have steadied and are now starting to climb ever so slightly. The other thing is that numbers of cattle at marts also rose. This afforded those who had sold cattle over the dry period the choice last week that had been lacking as sellers had held back waiting for the grass to come.