Supplies of finished cattle remain very tight, but factories have moved to manage the tight supplies by dropping the number of days they are killing and putting some pressure on quotes this week.

Bullocks have dropped 10 cent/kg in some locations this week to €7.40/kg with a number of factories also trying to purchase heifers at €7.50/kg.

Some cattle already purchased last week and being killed early this week are being sold at €7.50/kg base price for bullocks and €7.60/kg base price for heifers.

Cows

R grading cows are generally trading at €7.20/kg to €7.30/kg, while O grading cows are coming in around €7.00/kg to €7.10/kg.

There is a big range in quotes for P grading cows, with those with numbers able to bargain more and up to €6.80/kg to €6.90/kg being paid where numbers are involved.

Bulls

Bulls have also seen a slight correction but €7.70/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, with €7.80/kg being paid to a few large bull finishers this week for a mix of under-24-month R and U grading heavy bulls.

Under-16-month bulls are working off a €7.40/kg base, with a little more going where there are numbers involved.

This means U= grading bulls are hitting prices of €7.70/kg when grading and the 12c/kg in-spec bonus is added.

North of the border, beef quotes are also under pressure with a further 10p/kg being taken off quotes for cattle purchased for this week’s kill. The Northern Ireland correction in quotes follows a similar drop being seen across the water in the UK last week. Irish quotes remain 60 cent/kg behind the British beef price.