Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap - 11 July 2024

Prices for week ending 06 July

Key points

• Average prime cattle prices grew slightly compared to the previous week, with Heifer prices witnessing the largest increases.
• The average cow price edged up as demand for burgers and grilling products appears to be heating up
• The new season SQQ lamb price saw a decline of 68p compared to the previous week.

Cattle

The average all-prime cattle price for GB sat at 477.7p/kg for the week ending 06 July, a minor increase of 0.8p/kg from the week prior. This marked growth of nearly 4p from the same week in 2023, the highest year on year difference since March.

This growth was primarily driven by an increase in the overall Heifer category, up by 2.6p compared to the prior week and the highest weekly increase since February. The overall steer and young bull categories saw relative stability with declines of 0.1p and 0.3p from the previous week, to sit at 478.6p/kg and 471p/kg respectively. Average prime estimated slaughter was 200 head higher than the previous week, at 33,200 head. Industry reports note that demand for steaks have provided some strength to wholesale pricing, with slightly fewer cattle around for slaughter in the past three weeks compared to last year.

The overall average cow price sat 1.3p higher for the week ending 06 July to 361.6p/kg. Cow slaughter for the week ending 06 July was 240 head lower, to 8,200 head. Throughputs have seen a significant decline of 900 head from the same week in 2023. This tightness in the market may be providing some continuation in pricing, as industry commentary suggests that burgers and grilling items have improved wholesale prices.

Sheep

The GB new season lamb SQQ measure sat at 679p/kg for the week ending 06 July. This marked the largest weekly decline we’ve seen so far this year in a period of highly elevated prices, with a fall of 68p from the week prior. Despite this weekly fall, the price for the week ending 06 July remains higher than any price seen during this week in previous years, sitting 62p higher than 2023.

AHDB estimated GB kill sat at 189,355 head for the week ending 06 July, a fall of nearly 22,000 head (10%) from the previous week. This brings the year-to-date difference from last year to -9.8%, with kill for the week ending 06 July 300 head shy of kill in the same week in 2023.

Commentary from industry suggests that New Zealand product is still prevalent in the market despite their falling production levels, with some outlets reporting an increased number of enquiries from  UK customers for NZ product.

On the export market, prices in the Rungis wholesale market have seen a fall in recent days, marking a 70-cent fall across the week in some categories to the 11 July.

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