Prime cattle prices lifting, but 12% down on last year
While recent market trends might hint that prime cattle prices could be set to shake off the doldrums of recent months, prices across Europe remain well behind last year’s levels.
Ireland, Germany and Spain have seen prices drop by 7 per cent on the year, although those in France have fallen only 0.5 per cent, according to analysis carried out by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
However, the breakdown of the figures show that when expressed in euro terms, prices in Scotland have plummeted by more than 12 per cent on the year.
QMS director of economics, Stuart Ashworth said that history suggested cattle prices were likely to climb at this time of year.
He said: “The first indication of some strengthening in farmgate price has occurred some three weeks ahead of Easter. This may indicate some confidence in consumer demand for the Easter weekend, although other factors may, however, be starting to have an impact.”
He said that throughputs at price-reporting abattoirs during March suggested prime stock supplies were beginning to tighten – while they remained higher than a year ago, this was by a smaller amount than had
been seen in February.
He added: “As we move through April, BCMS data suggest that prime cattle supplies are likely to continue to tighten slowly. Across Europe as a whole, the European Commission forecasts beef production to fall by just over 1 per cent during 2019.” l Meanwhile, the effects of the collapse in the prime cattle trade have been felt in the store trade in the first quarter, according to Aberdeen & Northern Marts, which recorded a fall of around 16p per kilo against the same period in 2018.
Speaking ahead of the major store sales set to take place over the coming weeks, the group’s head of livestock, John Angus, said that heavier types of store cattle were currently most affected on the back of the prime cattle trade.
However, he said a more positive weather outlook than this time last year
meant that grass was growing well for younger store cattle to head straight outside.
He said: “Our busiest season for selling store and breeding cattle is just around the corner and we hope to sell 10,000 store cattle in the next six weeks. I believe the demand for store cattle will continue to grow as the weeks go in.”
He said that he also felt positive about upcoming breeding sales, and believed that they would maintain last year’s rates, especially where producers didn’t replace cow numbers in the back-end.
“Due to the fodder shortages last year, farmers haven’t had a chance to replace in their herds and because there have been no significant dispersals yet, there should be plenty buyers looking for breeding cattle.”