Cattle levels reach 90p/kg

Friday, 30 January, 1998

By FW reporters

CATTLE prices edged up early this week, with the across-the-board average at 90p/kg.
This compares with a figure of more than 100p/kg this time last year and 121p/kg at the corresponding point in 1996.

Around the average are big variations. At the top end, theres the really choice sorts that can make 135p/kg, says York auctioneer Richard Tasker. At the other end, theres the plain Friesians at little more than 70p/kg.

The mood remains dour, says Mr Tasker, with Sterlings strength sucking in imports. “The country may be eating beef – but it cant consume the volume that is being imported.”

Store cattle prices, meanwhile, have also come down. “A lot of stores are looking cheap – but what is cheap when there is no confidence in the end product and some finished animals are only grossing about £400?” says Mr Tasker.

Farmer Brian Clothier on the Mendip Hills reckons buying stores, putting weight on them and selling them to a finisher has made some money. Its certainly, he says, a better option than store sheep, some of which have been losing £15 or £20 a head. “Youre better off sitting down and doing nothing than that.”

Latest figures, from survey group AGB, show household beef purchases in the four weeks to 11 January were 1.5% higher than in the same period last year. Beef sales showed the biggest increase in the south, where they were up 19%. But in London, the figure was down 7%.