Cattle were in short supply in the week ending June 14 as processors hiked their prices slightly to encourage producers to bring more to the market.

A lack of supply meant some processors are increasing prices as deadweight cattle prices edged up slightly.  For the past four to six weeks, prices have been fairly balanced however with a shortage of steers and grass fed cattle, some reports suggest that processors are struggling to meet their retail requirements for in-spec cattle. Native cattle continue to meet a strong demand with many processors realising their potential and customers recognising their quality which has further hiked prices.

As a result, the GB all prime cattle indicator increased by over a penny to average 396.7p/kg.

On the week, liveweight heifers saw the greatest change, up 3.2 p/kg to level at 218.7 p/kg while cull cows followed closely, up 2.5 p/kg to stand at 137.0 p/kg.

In deadweight markets, young bulls saw the greatest increase on the week, up 2.9 p/kg to stand at 382.1 p/kg with R4L steers following, up 2 p/kg to level at 406.5 p/kg.

Things weren’t so rosy in the sheep market though, although despite recent falls in the new season lamb (NSL) price, trade had stabilised giving prices around the 200 p/kg mark over the week, according to EBLEX data.

Supplies on the whole remained tight which is likely to be the cause of this slight price rise but NSL numbers are rising week on week therefore they may not be as strong for so long. Year on year, price tends to dip around this time as more lambs are put forward although this year, likely due to a poor spring, lamb numbers are tight, down 18% on last year and 14% down on the same week in 2011, keeping prices fairly stable.  

Despite being still around the 220p/kg mark the daily SQQ for Wednesday 19 June was showing some upwards movement standing at 223.7 p/kg, up 7p/kg on the week.

In deadweight markets, lamb prices in week ended 15 June were showing an overall drop, although the rate of decline had slowed, with the NSL SQQ less than 10p/kg lower on the week. Daily figures for deadweight trading showed that by the end of the week prices were broadly stable at around the 487p/kg mark.