New factory beef price tracker

Since November last year, the agri-Food regulator has been publishing an aggregate sales price for beef hindquarter, beef forequarter and 500g, 5% mince pack.

This is calculated by DAFM from sales price information provided to them by ABP, Dawn Meats, Kepak and Liffey Meats. Between them, they account for 80% of the cattle that are processed in Irish factories.

With six months of this data now available, the Irish Farmers Journal will be publishing a weekly updated graph in the business of farming pages.

It will chart the movement in prices over each of the categories since the beginning of 2025, and will show at a glance the trend in what factories are getting for the beef they are selling.

Figure 1 shows that in recent weeks, factory selling price for both beef and cattle has risen, as illustrated by the reported price for the R3 steer shown in Figure 2.

Complex calculation

Shoppers will readily recognise what a 500g, 5% fat pack of mince is from browsing supermarket shelves. However, the other two categories for which a composite sales price is published bear no resemblance to cuts of beef that are traded.

Rather they are a combination of the hindquarter and forequarter cuts that are sold by the participating factories.

These prices are reported to DAFM who use them to produce an aggregate price for the hindquarter and forequarter, and the calculation reflects the fact that the sales mix between factories will differ.

For example, factories that have a high proportion of plain cows in their kill are more likely to be selling off more hindquarter cuts into mince than factories killing mainly prime steers, heifers and young bulls.

While this would mean different values for each of the participating groups, the numbers are aggregated to produce a single value for the categories that reflect the combined sales of the factories.

As a result, the published price for the hindquarter and forequarter will bear no resemblance to any type of beef that is offered for sale in butchers or supermarkets.

It is effectively a composite price that reflects the sales values obtained for the individual cuts of beef plus the low value fat and bone that make up a hindquarter and forequarter.

Reason for a composite value

Beef processors are extremely protective of data about the operation of their business. Prices they get from their customers for cuts of beef were historically only known by them and the buyers.

However, with the introduction of the EU (Market Transparency) Regulations 2021, DAFM also has access to the prices secured by ABP, Dawn Meats, Kepak and Liffey Meats to produce an aggregated price for each of the three categories that is reported to the EU.

Compliance with the legislation was the original reason for the selling price information being made available to DAFM. The Agri-Food regulator has secured agreement from the factories involved for the aggregated hindquarter, forequarter and 500g, 5% fat mince pack to be published.

Different cuts taken from a beef carcase

Figure 3 lists the main types of beef, commonly referred to as “cuts” in the trade, that are taken from a carcase. It also shows how much of each cut was found in a U-3+ beef carcase that was deboned by the Irish Farmers Journal and Bord Bia.

This exercise used a standard specification; each factory will have several different specifications from their customers that will determine how they break up a beef carcase.

In the Irish Farmers Journal and Bord Bia exercise, we apportioned potential uses for the individual cuts as shown in Figure 4. It shows that just 11.8% of the carcase was made up of steak meat, the most valuable cut in the carcase.

This figure would be even lower for a lesser grading animal and extremely low for a plain P grading animal. Moderate value roasting cuts made up 16.4% of the carcase in question, while almost 26% is extremely low value bones, fat and gristle.

While the percentage may vary, these make up a significant chunk of what contributed to the value of a composite hindquarter and forequarter price.

Almost half the carcase – 46% – is typically used in the production of mince or in the manufacture of burgers.

Again, it should be remembered that these figures are by way of example and each processor would allocate the cuts from the carcase in the way that best suited their business.

The graph in Figure 1 will be updated weekly and published alongside the Bord Bia market tracking graph on one of the business of farming pages each week.

While the composite hindquarter and forequarter values may not relate to anything specific that readers are familiar with, they will serve as an index of what aggregate value factories handling over 80% of the kill are getting for beef each week.

The hindquarter and forequarter values reflect the combined value of all the component parts from each that are sold by the factories.

This includes the bones, gristle and fat which are low value but make up a substantial part of both the hindquarter and forequarter

In brief: