The beef trade remains under sustained pressure from factories, with further pressure being heaped on finishers by factories this week.

Factories are quoting €7.20/kg for bullocks, back 10c/kg on last week’s quotes.

The big three factories are leading the charge in terms of getting quotes back, with smaller independent factories falling into line on quotes.

Some processors held on to last week’s quotes for cattle killed early this week, but moved to €7.20/kg base price by the end of the week.

Heifers are a similar story with quotes back 10c/kg on last week to €7.30/kg.

Again, there are a few agents standing on at last week’s prices, with €7.40/kg going in a few locations for cattle.

All that said, the general talk out there is that another 10c/kg will come off quotes next week.

It looks like €7/kg will be the line in the sand, with some farm organisations already talking about taking action should base quotes fall below this. Farmers who bought cattle this spring at €4/kg for an autumn finish are currently looking at their margin tumbling on a weekly basis.

Flat prices of €7.50/kg to €7.60/kg are on the table for in-spec Aberdeen Angus bullocks and heifers, but flat prices are becoming increasingly hard to come by, with most factories now insisting that cattle are priced on the grid.

Breed bonuses are also under some pressure, with some factories dropping their Aberdeen Angus bonus to 20c/kg in the last number of weeks.

Cows

R grading cows are generally trading at €6.90/kg to €7.00/kg, while O grading cows are coming in around €6.50/kg to €6.60/kg.

There is a big range in quotes for P grading cows, with those with numbers able to bargain more and up to €6.30/kg to €6.50/kg being paid where cows are well finished.

Bulls

Bulls have also seen a drop, but €7.50/kg is still available at the top end for U grading bulls, working back to €7.30/kg to €7.35/kg for O grading bulls.

Higher prices are also being paid to farmers who are contract feeding bigger numbers of bulls and larger feeders without a contract have also been able to hammer out better deals.

Under-16-month bulls are working off a €7.20/kg base, with a little more going where there are numbers involved.

While bull numbers have dropped a lot in recent years, there does seem to be more bulls around than usual at the moment, with some finishers opting to leave male animals entire and push on with a shed finish in the next few weeks.

Last week’s kill came in at just over 29,000 head, with most categories seeing a rise on the previous week.

The young bull kill continues to rise, with 2,901 young bulls killed last week.

There was just over 10,000 bullocks killed, with the heifer kill rising by 560 head week on week.

Comparing this week’s kill with the same week in 2024, it’s very similar, with just 500 fewer killed this year.

This year’s prime kill excluding calves is currently running 17,531 cattle ahead of the same period in 2024.

Bord Bia has estimated that this year’s kill could reduce by up to 80,000 head, which means a big reduction in numbers is set to take place as we head into the back end of 2025.

Factories are citing issues with beef moving. Another concern they have is the lower numbers and what it is doing in terms of diluting the same fixed costs of a factory over a lower number of animals.

Britain

Beef prices in Britain also continue to track downwards, with latest quotes for R4L bullocks coming in at 665p/kg (€8.22/kg incl VAT).

The latest supermarket shopper information from AHDB shows sirloin steak rising from £20.90/kg (€24.58/kg) to £30.40/kg (€35.76/kg).