Beef & Sheep Market April 25, 2016 12:00 am Beef The deadweight GB prime cattle price has now fallen by more than 20p/kg since the turn of the year and trade continues to be under pressure. R4L steers and heifers for the week ending 16th April averaged 324.1p per kg and 324.4p per kg respectively; young bulls averaged 296.9p per kg. But there is demand for commercial cattle meeting super market specifications (although these do get ever tighter) with reports suggesting that processors are not full. However with the rise in production of native breeds, such as Aberdeen Angus and Hereford, over the last few years we are now seeing an oversupply in this area and in turn this could have a knock on effect on commercial cattle supplies. Lamb Old season lamb prices seem to have stabilised after falling fairly sharply. The liveweight GB SQQ for the week ending 16th April was 181.5p per kg, 3p below year earlier levels. Slaughterings have increased compared to week earlier levels in response to demand but supplies in 2016 in general have been tighter than in 2015 and throughputs are some 12% less than for the same week a year earlier helping to maintain prices. Numbers of new season lamb are starting to increase; the liveweight GB SQQ for the week ending 16th April was 236.5p per kg. In the deadweight market the old season GB SQQ price has fallen more sharply to 414.2 p per kg. Deadweight prices are 31p per kg below the same week in 2015.
