IRELAND-FARMERS LOSING MONEY ON WINTER FED CATTLE..
Winter finishers have lost €140/hd on cattle housed since last October, ICSA beef committee chairman Sean Scully claimed.
He said the current prices being offered by factories for both bullocks and heifers were well below what farmers needed to make a decent return on stock finished over the last four months.
However, the farmer representative maintained that the market had settled and he predicted that prices would improve through the spring as supplies remained tight.
"Prices are holding at last week’s levels and we have seen agents for various factories buying forward stores in the mart for feed lots. This gives the message to farmers that over the next few weeks we will see a price rise as well as a scarcity of good stock," Mr Scully said.
He pointed out that bullocks were making 319c/kg (£1.14/lb), 314c/kg (£1.12/lb) and 302c/kg (£1.08/lb) respectively for U, R and O grades this week.
Held
Mr Scully said bull prices had held at 319c/kg (£1.14/lb), while heifers were trading at 319c/kg (£1.14/lb) and cows at anything from 269c/kg (£0.96/lb) to 280c/kg.
Beef farmers are also hopeful that the recent weakening of the euro against sterling will boost factory prices.
The euro dropped below 90p yesterday, while the price differential between Ireland and Britain for bullocks drifted to 26c/kg. This is equivalent to €90 on a 350kg carcass.
However, demand for good quality cuts in Britain remains weak. Although sales of manufacturing beef have improved, there is sluggish demand for prime cuts.
A Bord Bia survey of retail beef sales in Britain over the last three months highlighted the extent of the difficulties.
For the 12 weeks up to January 25, British beef sales were back just 2.7pc on the same period in 2007/08.
However, the volume of roasting cuts sold fell by a massive 17.2pc, with steak sales down 13.6pc. In contrast, the volume of mince sold rose by 4.5pc, while the volume of beef that went for burgers was up 3.6pc.
Challenges
Bord Bia’s Joe Burke said the economic downturn and exchange rate difficulties remained the primary challenges for Irish beef sales in Britain.
A drop in the value of the Swedish krona against the euro had also hit the trade, he added. Sweden takes 10pc of total Irish beef exports.