Farm Stock Weekly Market Report 

10/2/12    

Beef     Beef prices have taken a lift over the last seven days by around 2 to 4 p per kg depending on which factory you speak too. This means that most of the major players are now offering in excess of 345p kg. Localised shortages seem to be the reason for the rise, and we feel the trade could go higher yet. Cows continue to come forward steadily, as the cost of feeding cows is now quite high, so farmers are taking advantage of the current prices on offer. Store cattle seem to be getting no cheaper, with most beef bred stores selling in excess of 200p kg, and many more could be sold to seller’s advantage.

 Lamb      Export lamb sales continue to dominate the demand with substantial differences in the trade of export lambs into France and Belgium , compared to home market lambs. Light lambs are a challenge, as just a small number of processors are doing them at this time, and are a little anxious about selling to Greece for example. But as Easter is quite early this year, we forecast a sharp rise in values from mid March onwards. With a large number of quality barren ewes about, due to scanning, many are returning prices in excess of £100.

 Organic        There still seems to be a strong demand for all types of Organic produce at the moment, which will hopefully give encouragement to the committed Organic producer. On the beef front around 370p kg seems about the mark, with lamb now trading at around 480p, a premium of around 50p kg over conventional.

 Wanted

               All types of store cattle Inc Organic

               All types store lambs   Inc Organic