Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap - 10 October 2024

Prices for week ending 5 October 2024

Key Points

• Prime cattle prices continued to increase in the latest week, despite increasing slaughterings.
• Cow prices witnessed a 1p/kg increase, with kills sitting 1,100 head higher week on week.
• The sheep trade shows signs of a more typical seasonal trend, with the SQQ easing by 16p/kg on the week to 624p/kg, as kills increase week on week. This remains against a backdrop of substantially reduced supply so far this year.

Cattle

Deadweight prime cattle prices continued to climb for the week ending the 5^th October. With the overall average R4L deadweight steer price now surpassing the 520p/kg mark to sit at 522p/kg. Meanwhile, the overall steer category (average of all carcase specifications in the sample) now sits at 512p/kg and the overall heifer category at 508p/kg. Young bulls went against the trend, with the price pulling back by 1p, to sit at 495p/kg. Cull cows continue to witness remarkable strength, with the overall cow price averaging 360p/kg, an increase of 1p/kg on the week.

GB prime cattle slaughter was slightly back week on week, to sit at an estimated 34,400 head, with the kill sitting 1,600 higher than the same point last year. Cow slaughterings have seen further increases, up an estimated 1,500 head on the week, as we continue to witness seasonal rises coming forward.

With increased slaughterings and supported prices across the category, there are current reports of notable demand side drivers, as the focus continues to grow towards the key festive demand period for the beef category.     

Sheep

On the contrary, the deadweight sheep price dropped 16p on the week, to sit at 624p/kg. This leaves the price sitting 74p higher than the same point last year.

Estimated GB clean sheep kill has witnessed some week-on-week growth, up 5% to 210,000 head. This weekly kill remains 10% back on the same week last year, with the year-to-date total sitting 9% behind 2023.

Market reports are suggesting some price pressure is appearing, with prices easing slightly across most key outlets. Despite this, reports continue to demonstrate well fleshed animals being recognised with premiums.  Key wholesale outlets in the EU look to be presenting a stable market picture for sheep meat export sales, however, a changing exchange rate picture adds some disruption to this.

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