Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

Prices for week ending 12 July 2025

Key points

• Another week of growth in deadweight cattle prices, with slaughter numbers flat on last week but remaining below year-ago levels
• Sheep prices continue to buck the seasonal trend, with the deadweight NSL SQQ falling by only 3p/kg on the week to sit at 731p/kg

Cattle

GB deadweight cattle prices saw an uplift across all categories in the week ending 12 July, with the all prime average measure increasing by nearly 3p/kg versus the week before.

The overall average steer price grew the most, up 4p/kg on the week to sit at 638p/kg, with overall heifers at 636p/kg, up almost 2p/kg on the week. Young bull prices were more mixed with southern and central regions recording price declines on the week, however price growth in the northern and Scottish region meant the overall GB measure was stable week-on-week.

Estimated kill for prime cattle totalled 30,300 head, flat on the week before. This sits significantly below historic levels, bringing the year to date kill total more than 4% lower than the same period of 2024. Recent tightness in supplies has more than counteracted the higher kill numbers we saw in the early part of this year.

Following trends seen in prime cattle, the GB overall deadweight cow price grew by 5p/kg on the week to sit at 508p/kg in the week ending 12 July. This was despite an uplift in estimated cow kill, with growth of over 1,000 head versus the week prior to 8,400 head.

The latest figures from Kantar show that volumes of beef purchased in retail fell by nearly 4% year-on-year in the 12 weeks ending 15 June 2025. This comes alongside average price increases of 10%, likely the primary driver of these lower volumes, as consumers react to price inflation in the category. Reports suggest that this demand is feeding back into wholesale beef prices, with price drops in steaking cuts particularly. 

Sheep

In the week ending 12 July, we continued to see the deadweight NSL SQQ lamb price ease back, down almost 4p/kg week on week to sit at 731p/kg. Typically the lamb price falls away much more sharply during this period according to seasonal trends, meaning the price now sits 85p/kg above the same week of last year.

GB estimated kill lifted slightly on the week, to 157,000 head, however, still remains low for this time of year.

Looking across to the liveweight markets we see a similar story, with throughputs in England and Wales higher than the previous week. Increasing numbers of new season lambs have driven this growth, now accounting for 98% of the week’s prime supply.

Source: LAA

In terms of liveweight prices, the LAA reported the average price for SQQ NSLs of 348p/kg in the week ending 13 July. We have seen this price fluctuate within a 20p range in recent weeks, reflecting a similar trend to the deadweight trade.

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