Subtle upswing as factories pay 5-10c/kg above quoted figures
While there appeared to be little movement on prices yesterday — with quotes for bullocks staying put at €3.65/kg, with an odd agent still quoting €3.60/kg and heifers still on €3.70/kg — underneath I detected a subtle upswing.
Demand for cull cows had my sources lifting O-grades to a solid €3/kg, while U-grade bulls edged more freely towards €3.65/kg, meaning that there appears to be 5-10c/ kg more being paid for both than is being generally quoted.
While those figures won’t set the world on fire, they do suggest that despite rumours that the Chinese market is experiencing difficulties, there are enough other outlets for factories to quietly edge prices upwards.
A senior factory representative told me that several factors were affecting his Far East trade. The first was that since the New Year the Chinese appeared to have “slowed down on price”, while the Coronavirus had left them “a bit all over the place”.
The overall tone of the message, however, was not negative — more a case of just be aware that “there are issues at our end that are leading to us having to reschedule”.
Which I take to mean that even if the Chinese market slowed completely, factories still have enough other outlets to absorb what stock are being presented.
Returning to that lift in prices for cull cows, the spread on quotes now reads R-grades €3.10-3.20/kg, O-grades €3.00/ kg and P-grades €2.90/kg.
In all cases a bit more may be in the offing once the cows have a good covering of flesh and there are reasonable numbers involved.
Last week I noted that strong mart prices were being helped by the fact that once you added in quality assurance, breed bonuses and VAT, your R3 factory bullock was floating around the €3.90-3.95/kg mark.
Figures compiled by the Department of Agriculture for the week ending January 26 show that the top three factory payers for R3 bullocks that week all averaged above €3.90/kg.
Foyle Meats in Donegal topped the table on 399.29c/ kg, followed by ABP Bandon on 395.59c/kg, with ABP Cahir on 392.59c/kg, and Jennings of Ballinrobe on 389.97c/kg.
On the heifer side Foyle were also the best payers, averaging 403.85c/kg for your R3 heifer, followed at 395.72c/kg by ABP Cahir and Jennings on 394.61
For the week ending January 26, the top three factory payers for R3 bullocks all averaged above €3.90/kg
c/kg, and Kepak Clonee on 392.03c/kg.
Factory averages quoted by the Department for young bulls show that while your U3 averaged 367.47c/kg overall, Kepak Clonee were nearly 11c/kg better at 378.4c/kg. Next best were ABP Clones on 377.11c/kg, followed by Foyle on 374.2, with ABP Nenagh 370.66c/kg. The overall average price paid for O4 grading cows was 297c/kg. Foyle took top spot on 309.04c/kg from ABP Rathkeale on 305c/kg.
In summary, the word from the processors is that stock are wanted but giving more on price remains a struggle — but it’s a struggle that finishers are maybe beginning to edge.