Upward movement in beef prices ‘necessary’

'Mart trade has also upped a gear or two this week'

ICMSA livestock committee chair, Michael O’Connell has welcomed the beginning of beef prices moving upwards with “factories notably working on securing adequate supplies in the run up to the Christmas trade”.

“We saw 5c/kg extra added to base prices as last week progressed with 510c/kg base price for steers and 515c/kg base price for heifers been paid.

"It also has been noted that some factories have paid in excess of this for in-spec bunches of steers and heifers while the standard breed bonuses of 10c for Herefords and 15c for Angus have been exceeded with 15 and 20c/kg respectively being the norm in most cases,” said Mr O'Connell.

He said it has also been noted that some processors have reverted back to flat pricing on Friesian steers which is an indicator of tight supplies which is unusual at this stage of the year.

“Mart trade has also upped a gear or two this week and all indications point towards factories knowing that unless they feed them in their own feedlots or encourage specialist feeders to feed them, they won’t have adequate supplies next spring,” said Mr O'Connell.

Last week, ICMSA attended the launch of MII charter for sustainable beef production where industry experts and beef processor representatives “rightly highlighted progress being made in terms of sustainability at farm level”.