Beef Update
IFA President Francie Gorman said the EU ban on Brazilian beef and poultry imports will proceed next week, taking effect on Thurs, September 3rd. This ban follows the investigation in Brazil by IFA and the Farmers Journal last year where they highlighted the complete lack of controls on the sale of antibiotics, which flies in the face of the EU strategy on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This was followed by a major lobby campaign led by IFA’s permanent office in Brussels. He said this is an important milestone in upholding standards in the EU and the first time the Commission took the issue of AMR and antibiotic usage in trade access into account. IFA and the Farmers Journal highlighted the level of unregulated antibiotic use in Brazil’s farming systems last October, traversing 3,000km across four states and finding completely unregulated access to and usage of antibiotics including Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics. There was no evidence of any infrastructure or willingness to apply even the most basic controls on usage in food-producing animals. “IFA Senior Policy Executive Tomás Bourke, the Editor of the Farmers Journal Adam Woods and IFJ Picture Editor Phillip Doyle deserve credit for going to Brazil and undertaking the investigation. Our Brussels office headed by Liam MacHale and including our EU Policy Executive Noel Banville then took the findings to all the key stakeholders in Brussels to highlight what was found,” he said.
Beef Price Update 27/08/2026
Base Steer €6.30/6.50kg. Heifers €6.40/6.60kg. Higher deals for larger and specialist lots. Y Bulls R/U €6.40/6.70Kg. Cows €5.80/6.40kg.
Supply Figures as Reported by DAFM – WK 34 (23.08.2026)
| Animal | Number | Change prev wk | % of total | YTD | YTD Change |
| Y Bulls | 1,678 | ▼-88 | 5% | 75,520 | ▼-1,170 |
| Bull | 608 | ▼-43 | 2% | 16,986 | ▲358 |
| Steer | 15,076 | ▲813 | 46% | 388,573 | ▼-9,701 |
| Cow | 6,792 | ▲294 | 21% | 222,886 | ▼-17,586 |
| Heifer | 8,628 | ▼-73 | 26% | 312,769 | ▼-23,626 |
| Veal-V | 82 | ▼-44 | 0% | 1,601 | ▼-1,289 |
| Veal-Z | 13 | ▼-2 | 0% | 2,176 | ▲450 |
| Total | 32,877 | ▲857 | 100% | 1,020,511 | ▼-52,564 |
Official Irish Prices as Reported by DAFM – WK 34 (23.08.2026)
| c/kg (Incl. VAT) | U3 | Change prev wk | R3 | Change prev wk | O3 | Change prev wk | P+3 | Change prev wk |
| Steers | 684 | ▼-1 | 673 | ▼-1 | 660 | ▼-3 | 629 | ▼-7 |
| Heifers | 696 | ▼-3 | 678 | ▼-4 | 668 | ▼-4 | 625 | ▼-8 |
| Y Bulls | 684 | ▼-7 | 666 | ▼-7 | 657 | ▲3 | 641 | ▼-7 |
| Cows | 0 | ▲0 | 643 | ▲4 | 605 | ▼-4 | 593 | ▼-1 |
Official GB Prices as Reported by AHDB
| Steers | Steers | Heifers | Heifers | Y bull | Y bull | Cow | |
| p/kg | R3 | R4L | R3 | R4L | R3 | R4L | -O4L |
| 15/08/2026 | 614.6 | 617.7 | 614 | 620.3 | 603.6 | 607.7 | 502.8 |
| 22/08/2026 | 614.9 | 618.6 | 613.6 | 618.3 | 603.1 | 610.2 | 485.8 |
| Change | ▲0 | ▲1 | ▲0 | ▼-2 | ▼-1 | ▲3 | ▼-17 |
| Price in c/kg (Incl VAT) | 755.0 | 759.6 | 753.4 | 759.2 | 740.6 | 749.3 | 596.5 |
Euro Price for the Most Recent Week (€/KG Deadweight excl. VAT)
| Country & Type | 17.08.2024 | 16.08.2025 | 15.08.2026 |
| EU + Y Bulls R3 | 5.10 | 6.82 | 6.36 |
| IE + Steers R3 | 5.02 | 7.57 | 6.45 |
| UK + Steers R3 | 5.80 | 7.50 | 7.11 |
Live cattle exports 10th August
Sheep Update
IFA Sheep Chairman Adrian Gallagher said further factory price cuts to lambs this week is unnecessary and highly irresponsible. He said the latest cuts to prices undermines the confidence of farmers and risks huge knock-on effects to the sector. He said farmers are facing a difficult breeding season due to drought conditions in parts of the country and factories should be doing everything is their power to ensure these farmers receive strong and viable lamb prices. Sheep farming is a low-income sector who does not have the capacity for price volatility and sheep farmers will be making key breeding decisions in the coming weeks for the coming year and central to this will be the returns they are currently getting for their lambs. Adrian Gallagher said the future of the sheep sector is very much dependent on factories to return viable prices to farmers. Factories must halt the price cuts they have imposed and start reflecting the full value of our key outlets the UK and France for our sheep meat.
Lamb Price Update 27/08/2026
Spring lamb €7.90/8.20kg. Weights to 22kg. Higher deals groups/larger lots. Ewes €4.60/5.30/kg.
Supply Figures as Reported by DAFM – WK 34 (23.08.2026)
| Animal | Figure | Change | YTD | YTD Change |
| Lambs/Hoggets | 302 | ▲160 | 697646 | ▼-60,329 |
| Spring Lambs | 38330 | ▼-491 | 472874 | ▼-6,138 |
| Ewes and Rams | 8371 | ▲477 | 177281 | ▲62,167 |
| Light Lambs | 0 | ▲0 | 0 | ▼-126 |
| TOTAL | 47003 | ▲146 | 1347801 | ▼-4,426 |
Official Irish Prices as Reported by DAFM – WK 34 (23.08.2026)
| c/kg (Incl. VAT) | This week | Change prev. wk | 2025 | Change prev. yr |
| National Avg Price | 778.12 | ▼-17 | 768.8 | ▲9 |
| YTD Avg | 847.95 | ▼-2 | 845.63 | ▲1 |
Official GB Prices as Reported by AHDB
| R3L | Overall SQQ* | Type of lamb | |
| 15/08/2026 | 725.7 | 723.5 | New season Lamb |
| 22/08/2026 | 711.4 | 723.5 | New season Lamb |
| Change | ▼-14 | ▲0 | |
| Price in c/kg (Incl VAT) | 873.5 | 888.4 | 1 |
Live Sheep Exports
