Beef factories have moved to pull beef quotes this week, with prices down 10-20c/kg in most processors. The move comes after an exceptional start to the 2025 beef trade, where price rises were the norm on a weekly basis.

The move to lower quotes has been criticised by farm organisations, with IFA livestock chair Declan Hanrahan saying “factories should stop the gamesmanship and reflect the reality of market conditions in prices offered to farmers”.

The general thinking within the industry is that finished cattle supplies for May will be very tight and the current price pressure is a way of levelling things off before further price increases may have to happen in May in order to secure supplies.

Farmers are being advised to price around and not to panic sell. The lower quotes have filtered their way to the mart trade, with heavy cattle back 10-20c/kg this week in marts.

UK and Northern Ireland

The UK market remains steady, after making more gains last week. Scottish R3 bullocks came in at 723p/kg (€8.83/kg including VAT) last week.

The average R4L bullock price moved up to €8.71/kg (including VAT) last week.

Northern Ireland quotes also remain steady, with no talk of reduced offerings and quotes staying at 686p (€8.38/kg including VAT).

The latest supermarket spend data from the UK paints a positive picture for the retail market, with AHDB reporting higher spending on beef products. For the post-Christmas spending period of the 12 weeks up until 23 March 2025, mince volume sales were up by 1.8%, while diced beef sales saw a 14.6% increase. Steak sales also recorded an increase, up 0.6% year-on-year.