Beef prices in Northern Ireland and the UK have seen a substantial lift in recent weeks, with the R3 steer price reaching an all-time high in Northern Ireland. In Britain, the R3 steer price has increased for the 18th consecutive week, now equivalent to €5.70/kg for an R3 grade bullock. Meanwhile, the average R3 steer price last week in the Republic of Ireland was €5.33/kg, which is 30c/kg (25.7p/kg) below that of Northern Ireland. This equates to a €102.46 (£89.95) differential on an R3 grade steer with a 350kg carcass. While Irish prime cattle imports for direct slaughter haven’t significantly impacted the prime cattle kill in Northern Ireland recently, 294 prime cattle were moved from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland for direct slaughter in local processing plants in the past week. This brings the total numbers of prime cattle exported from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland during the last eight weeks to 1,719 head, accounting for approximately 3% of total NI prime cattle throughput for the last eight weeks.
