Base price offers under 455 cents/kg for steers has hit stone wall resistance
The intake at the factories continues very strong, but, it appears that the processors want to get the cattle to meet the market requirements.
It is another week of 'steady as it goes' for suppliers of cattle to the factories on the prices being paid as the producers resist any further cuts to their returns.
The intake at the factories continues very strong, but it appears that the processors want to get the cattle to meet the market requirements, which is continuing to effectively work in favour of the producers.
Base price offers under 455 cents/kg for steers has hit stone wall resistance from producers which has been a significant factor in holding the trade steady.
Most of the steers appear to be going through on a base price of 460 cents/kg, particularly for the larger lots and the better quality animals with strong rejection from the majority of finishers to accepting less this week.
The heifers are working off a base at 5 cents/kg higher than the steers on a general base of 465 cents/kg.
However, those finishers who are trying their hand at holding out for more are meeting with strong resistance from the processors at present. The factory bosses appear to be content enough to get the larger supplies at these prices and neither do they appear to want to rock the intake by insisting on further cuts.
The cow prices are holding firm with good demand at the factories for the well-finished cows in particular which are making up 440 cents/kg for R grade this week as demand for the manufacturing beef continues to outpace the market for prime beef.
The young bulls continue to outperform the equivalent grade steer by up to 20 cents/kg. Up to 480 cents/kg is being paid for the young R-grade bulls this week, rewarding those who have stayed with the young bull sector through times when the only benefit was the usually higher performance in comparison to steer finishing.
Week on week the supply of young bulls is currently down by 25% on last year and year-to-date the intake is lower by just over 12%, the higher percentage decline for any category of the livestock supply in 2023, which is equivalent to a drop of 12,805 head year-to-date.
At an average carcass weight of 400kgs, the price margin over steer beef is adding around €80/head to the value of young bulls beef, before the advantage of the higher feed conversion is included, combining to a significant difference in the margin over cost of production for those who have stayed with bull beef production.
The overall intake for last week reached 39,344 head, which was around 1,000 less than the same week in 2022. The supply included 18,035 steers, 10,323 heifers, 8,953 cows and 1,512 young bulls.
