During the week ending 3 March, the GB all prime average cattle price gained 1.54p on the week, to 355.58p/kg. This is the first week-on-week gain since the end of 2017. Currently the measure stands 2.23p above the 5 year average for this week and 8.28p above the same week last year. Some of this uplift in price may be due to the snow across the country during the week as well as industry reports that demand may be picking up. How this price performs over the coming weeks will indicate if demand is starting to pick up.
Overall steer prices picked up by 2p week-on-week, standing at 355.9p/kg for the week ended 3 March, while steer carcases meeting the R4L specification gained 1.7p, to 367.4p/kg. The overall heifer price recorded a small increase (+0.9p) on-the-week, to 358.7p/kg. Heifer carcases meeting the R4L specification remained more stable (-0.2p), at 367.2p/kg. The overall young bull price declined 4.5p during the week, to 321.6p/kg, which for the first time this year is below the five year average. Those young bull carcases meeting the R4L specification however fared better gaining 1.4p, to 343.2p/kg, although this gain modest gain was on the back of a sharp decline two weeks ago.