Monaghan IFA  Livestock Committee Chairman Andrew Boylan said cattle prices
are continuing to rise, up 6-10c/kg in the last 10 days driven by very
strong market demand, tight supplies and a determination by winter finishers
to recover the increases in feed costs.  He said, “factory agents and
procurement managers are very active with numerous factories chasing the
same cattle and some feeders saying agents they hadn’t seen in 5 years
calling into them looking for stock.”

Andrew Boylan said the base price for steers had moved up to €3.36/kg to
€3.42/kg with some top prices of €3.48/kg paid.  Heifer prices have
increased to €3.42/kg to €3.50/kg with tops of €3.56/kg.

Andrew Boylan pointed out that based on the Department of Agriculture
official reported prices, up to 10 factories paid an average base price for
heifers in excess of €3.50/kg.  He said clearly this means many farmers were
getting a heifer base price well in excess of €3.50/kg.

The IFA livestock leader said with the most recent increase in feed and
fertiliser costs, winter finishers will have to get substantial further
cattle price increases to recover these additional expenses.  He said based
on the latest figures the increased costs were the equivalent of up to
20c/kg in beef prices.

On Turkey, Andrew Boylan said a number of the independent factories had
expressed a strong interest in exporting bulls.  He said Minister Smith had
opened the Turkish market and it was now up to the factories to take
advantage of the higher market returns available.  He said the spotlight is
now firmly on the industry to demonstrate its commitment to maximising
market returns in the form of higher producer prices.

On supplies, Andrew Boylan said Bord Bia are forecasting a reduction in the
kill of up to 150,000 cattle for 2011 and a similar reduction in 2012.