For the second week in a row, factories have pared another 10c/kg off beef quotes. The cut is across the board, with most categories seeing a reduction in quotes this week.

A lot of cattle that are being killed early this week are being killed at last week’s prices, but cattle being sold later this week are back 10c/kg across the board.

There were still farmers getting as high as €7.50/kg up until Wednesday of this week, with some of the smaller independent factories having to hang on to last week’s quotes to make sure cattle came their way this week.

The general quotes for the end of this week and the beginning of next week are around €7.30/kg base price for bullocks and €7.40/kg base price for heifers. That’s 50c/kg back (or over €150/head) from where the peak was at the beginning of April 2025.

Flat prices are harder to come by in recent weeks, but €7.60/kg to €7.70/kg is still available for in-spec Aberdeen Angus bullocks and heifers.

Some factories have pulled their Aberdeen Angus premium back from 30c to 20c/kg, but are still paying 30c/kg where numbers are involved.

Factories are citing issues around retail sales being the main driver of the price drop, but their own agents continue to send mixed messages around mart rings this week.

Factory agents continue to pay over €4/kg for finished cattle in marts, which transfers into a beef price of €8/kg needed to cover the price of the animal and costs.

Cows

R grading cows are generally trading at €7.00/kg to €7.30/kg, while O grading cows are coming in around €6.80/kg to €6.90/kg.

There is a big range in quotes for P grading cows, with those with numbers able to bargain more and up to €6.50/kg to €6.70/kg being paid.

Bulls have also seen a slight correction, but €7.60/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.

Again, larger feeders have been able to hammer out better deals.

Under-16-month bulls are working off a €7.30/kg base, with a little more going where there are numbers involved.

Last week’s kill came in at 28,419 head, back 726 cattle on the previous week, which wasn’t massive when you take it that it was a bank holiday week.

The number of bulls killed actually went up last week to 2,769 head.

The bullock kill dropped by just under 1,200 head, while the heifer kill also came back just under 500 head. The cow kill went up by just under 300 head.

Numbers are expected to remain very tight in the coming weeks, as shed cattle have all being killed as this stage, with factories pulling a lot of cattle from their own finishing units to shore up dwindling supplies.

The number of calves being processed on a weekly basis remains very low, with just 48 calves processed last week.

The number of calves processed in 2025 is down over 16,000 head on the back of good prices and strong export demand for all types of calves in 2025.

Supermarket data

The latest supermarket shopping spend data from Kantar in the UK shows that total beef volume spend reduced by 2.5% for the 12-week period until 18 May, coupled with a 12% increase in price of burgers and grilling meats during the same period.

Steak sales also saw a 4% decline during that period. Mince beef sales saw a 1.8% decrease.

AHDB recently carried out data analysis which points to a continued drop in the British cattle population, mainly driven by a reduction in suckler cow numbers and reduced registrations.

A shift to more dairy beef is also compounding the issue of reduced numbers with lower carcase weights from dairy beef animals.