Weekly cattle & sheep market wrap – 25 July 2024

Key points

Prices for week ending 20 July 2024

• GB deadweight prime cattle prices rose again in the latest week as supplies dipped slightly. The GB R4L steer price averaged 490p/kg in the week ending 20 July, up 1.2p from the week prior.
• The lamb market showed stability in the latest week, as the GB deadweight new season lamb price pulled out of its seasonal fall to average 647p/kg.

Cattle

GB deadweight prime cattle prices rose again in the latest week as supplies dipped slightly.

The GB R4L steer price averaged 490p/kg in the week ending 20 July, up 1.2p from the week prior. Heifers achieving the same carcase specification rose by a similar amount (+1.1p) to average 491p/kg. Meanwhile, young bulls of R3 specification averaged 478p/kg, up 2p on the week.

Total estimated prime cattle slaughter dipped slightly (170 head) from the week before to 33,500 head, primarily driven by steers as numbers of heifers and young bulls rose.

The latest GB retail figures show that the quantity of beef purchased by shoppers has been rather robust of late (12 weeks to 7 July), with mince leading the way. By contrast, while sales of burgers & grills have been rising into summer, this category has been underperforming compared to the same period last year. Nevertheless, total spend on the beef category during the period was up 3.7% versus 2023.

More recent market reports suggest that prices for steak cuts have been boosted recently by barbeque-related purchasing, and some positive export movements due to the Paris Olympics.

Sheep

The lamb market showed stability in the latest week, as the GB deadweight new season lamb price pulled out of its seasonal fall to average 647p/kg. This was 1.6p above the previous week and up 55p on the same week last year. Market reports from this week suggest this stability has persisted.

The lamb price has shown some strong moves in recent months, we explore the drivers in more detail in this article.

Domestic spring lamb supplies remain tight, putting a strong base in the market. GB lamb slaughter dropped back further to an estimated 180,700 head for the week ending 20 July, down 7% from the week before. This was back substantially (over 20%) against the same week a year ago.

Retail data for lamb shows overall volumes purchased in GB have seen annual growth (12 weeks to 7 July), with sous vide products (such as slow cooked lamb shank) in particular performing well. Meanwhile, cuts including chops have shown more subdued performance.

Elsewhere in the market, the view of the export trade appears to be stable, reflected by the latest prices for lambs at Rungis market in France. However, the recent strengthing in sterling may have taken some reward from exporters.