Prices of up to €8/kg inclusive of all bonuses are back on the table this week, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) president Sean McNamara.

While official quotes are currently behind these levels, the ICSA president has told Agriland that some factories have returned to flat price offers for farmers and are paying as high as €8/kg for choice lots of cattle meeting all factory specifications.

The reduced supply of beef cattle has started to materialise, following relatively high weekly kills of cattle to date this year and most processors remain eager to secure cattle to fill out kill sheets for this week as well as the coming weeks.

This week, €7.30 and €7.40/kg on the grid is being quoted for steers (bullocks) and heifers respectively.

Some outlets have started the week at 10c/kg below this, but may well have to move their price offer up to secure cattle as the week progresses.

Breed bonuses of up to 30c/kg remain available for eligible Angus cattle, with Hereford breed bonuses generally ranging from 10-15c/kg.

Ashbourne Meats recently hosted a cow carcass competition and confirmed to Agriland it "will keep the price of €7.50/kg for ‘U’ grade cows for the month of July to reward these high-grading cows".

Elsewhere, price offers for 'U' grade cows are at €7.10-€7.20/kg with price offers for 'R' grade cows starting at €7.00-€7.10/kg.

'O' grade cows are being quoted at €6.80-€6.90/kg and 'P' grade cows are being quoted at €6.70/kg.

More money is being secured in cases for batches of well-fleshed cows.

Under-24-month bulls are being quoted at €7.60 and €7.50/kg for 'U' and 'R' grade bulls respectively.

'O' and 'P' grade bulls are being quoted at €7.30 and €7.20/kg respectively.

Under-16-month bulls are being quoted at €7.30/kg on the grid, generally speaking.

With cattle supplies tight and demand firm, the general consensus is that the beef trade is looking fairly positive for the short-term at least.