Market prices

Cattle

A 1p rise in the average heifer price to 276.9p/kg (week ended 3 October) was partially offset by a small fall in the steer average to 279p/kg. Young bulls averaged 264.6p/kg and the deadweight cull cow average eased by nearly 1p to 182.7p/kg.
At GB auction markets (w/e 7 October) steers averaged 149.8p/kg and heifers levelled at 155.5p/kg. The liveweight cull cow price eased by nearly 3p on the week to average 87.7p/kg. The gap between farmgate and retail beef prices narrowed slightly between August and September to 50.4%, due to firmer producer cattle prices in September.

Sheep

At GB auction markets (w/e 3 October) the SQQ remained stable at 134p/kg, while the cull ewe price showed a slight improvement on the previous week, up 70p to £42.22/head. But a sharp decline in the deadweight SQQ resulted in the average price falling 13p to 308.7p/kg. The average farm price remained relatively stable between August and September, while the average retail price fell almost 3%, with a 1% fall in the farmgate and retail price spread to 51.6%. The largest retail price decline was for diced lamb, down 5% to £10.10/kg.

Pigs

The DAPP fell more than 1p (w/e 3 October) to 148.47p/kg dw. The export sow price moved down slightly again last week to 112.6p/kg. The gap between this year's and last year's price has widened. Since mid-July sow returns have been lower than in the corresponding period in 2008, when prices were on an upward trend. The average price is now over 15p/kg less than a year ago. The producer price for pigs eased between August and September and the average retail price for pork rose slightly. An increase in the price of fillet end leg joints and diced pork contributed to the average retail pork price rise.

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