Cattle Prices Continue to Drive Forward
IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods said the cattle trade is continuing to drive forward with the base price for steers at €4.00/kg and heifers at €4.10/kg. He said €4.05/4.10 as a base for steers and €4.15/4.20 as a base for steers and heifers have also being paid in places and there is strong demand for cattle from the factories.
Angus Woods said young bulls are making €4.00 plus flat for R and U grades.
He said cows have also moved up with O grades on €3.35 and R grades on €3.50/kg. He said feeders selling numbers of cows are securing higher prices and flat price deals.
The IFA National Livestock Chairman said the live export trade is continuing to drive on with new business to Algeria. He said the latest figures show that exports are up 42% or 22,000 head on last year.
Angus Woods said exports for the week ending April 2nd totalled 9,594 head. Calves continue to seasonally dominate exports, accounting for over 80% of the trade with 7,941 head of calves exported while 730 weanlings, 481 stores and 442 adult cattle were exported. The Netherlands and Spain took the largest numbers. 3,725 head of cattle were exported to the Netherlands (all calves), 3,113 to Spain, 773 to Turkey, 559 to Belgium, 539 to Italy, 482 to Northern Ireland, 302 to France, 62 to Greece and 39 to Great Britain.
