September 19, 2012

Irish store cattle market opens in Britain

In the past two weeks, a potential new market for Irish store cattle to be exported to Britain has opened.

Until now, the live export of store cattle has been curtailed by difficulties in getting them slaughtered in Britain. Meat plants there are reluctant to process cattle born in Ireland and raised in Britain because of the complications in labelling the beef.

However, it is understood that the Kildare-based exporter is selling the Irish stores to British farmers with a guarantee to slaughter the cattle at an abattoir in Wales. Store prices have lifted slightly in the past week, in tandem with the improved weather conditions. Average prices paid in the past week for 450-kilogramme stores were around EUR920 (US$1,200), or EUR470 (US$613) over the weight.

The lift follows a sharp drop in store prices during late July and August, as bad weather, tight grass supplies and rising concentrate feed prices strangled demand.

Prices for plain stores fell by anything from EUR50-150 (US$65-196) per head over the summer. Meanwhile, the latest figures from Bord Bia show that live exports of store cattle from Ireland have fallen by EUR0.17 (US$0.22) this year, compared to last year.

Some 19,594 store cattle were exported between January 1 and September 1 last year, while 16,268 cattle were shipped in the same period this year, a drop of over 3,300 heads.

The drop in calf exports was even more dramatic, down 52,351 heads from 87,945 in 2011 to 35,594 heads in 2012, a fall of almost EUR0.60 (US$0.78).

Weanling exports fell from 27,904 heads in January-September 2011 to just 18,402 in the same period this year, a drop of EUR0.34 (US$0.44).