IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods has said that factories are struggling to buy cattle at the lower quoted prices this week.
Woods revealed that they are having to pay at least a base of €4.15 and €4.25 for steers and heifers to get adequate numbers.
Increased Demand
He said ‘supplies are not meeting demand and factories are hungry for cattle with farmers in no rush to move stock that is thriving well on grass’.
The factories are using the slight increase in the cow kill to try to put pressure on prices and Angus Woods said farmers need to be aware that there is a difference of 10-15c/kg in cow prices depending on the factory and the numbers on offer.
Woods said both in Ireland and the UK supplies are not meeting demand and the World Cup has given a strong boost to beef consumption in the UK and across the EU.
The IFA recently said that live exports trade has performed ‘very positively’ in 2018. Live exports for the year increased by 25% to 154,650 head compared to 123,505 this time last year. The farmers' group reported that the vast majority of exports were calves, 128,700 head, and 25,950 adult animals.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
