June 9, 2011

 

EU experiences limited cattle supplies

 

 

Supplies of prime cattle are limited and will contract more over the following weeks before the supply of grass cattle appears, according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).

 

Livestock committee chairman Sean Higgins said farmers will strongly resist negative talk from the factories on cattle prices, claiming the factories are attempting to pull cull cow prices as supplies peak.

 

The IFA livestock man said the average reported Department of Agriculture price paid by the factories was EUR3.72/kg (US$5.44) for steers, EUR3.80/kg (US$5.56) heifers and EUR3.73/kg (US$5.45) for bulls.

 

Higgins said the factories were doing very well with the value of hides and the fifth quarter, which were worth over EUR100/head (US$146) or EUR0.29/kg (US$0.42). He said this is an exceptionally strong return for the meat plants.

 

The IFA livestock man said all cattle supplies are tight and should remain so across Europe. The EU December 2010 census shows total livestock numbers down over 2.7 million head or 1.7%.

 

All groups of cattle numbers are down, with young animals less than one year down 0.9%, animals between one and two years of age down 1.8%, and animals over two years down 1.4%.

 

Higgins said Irish cattle supplies are forecast to be down 120,000-140,000 head for 2011 and with the kill back only 5.5% to date, numbers are going to be very scarce for the second half of the year. Likewise, a similar picture is developing for the UK with total cattle supplies forecast to be back over 100,000 head for the second half of the year.

 

Higgins said Europe has responded to the very strong international market for beef with EU exports almost doubled at 485,166 tonnes for 2010 compared to only 249,165 tonnes for 2009.

 

"Exports to Russia, our largest EU export market were up 167%, while over 70,000 tonnes was exported to Turkey and 34,000 tonnes to the Lebanon."

 

Higgins pointed out the major jump in the value of EU beef exports up from EUR615 million (US$899 million) in 2009 to EUR1.246 billion (US$1.82 billion) in 2010. Exports to Turkey were worth an average of EUR3,575/tonne (US$5226). In addition, EU beef imports fell from 437,182 tonnes in 2009 to 378,954 tonnes in 2010 or 12.5%. Imports from Brazil, have fallen dramatically down from 344,000 tonnes in 2007 to 145,000 tonnes in 2010.