Weekly cattle & sheep market wrap – 20 March 2025

• The GB overall all-prime cattle price increased by 10p/kg week-on-week to 663p/kg with R4L prices reaching 675p/kg for both steers and heifers.
• Prime cattle estimated slaughter number was notably down, back 5% on the previous week.
• The deadweight OSL SQQ lamb price remains flat, with numbers also 5% down on the previous week.

GB deadweight cattle prices moved up once again in the week ending 15 March, as supply begun to slow. The overall steer and overall heifer price both grew by 10p/kg from the previous week to reach 665p/kg and 663p/kg respectively. Overall young bulls increased by a similar amount on the previous week, up 11p to reach 644p/kg. R4L steers and heifers also saw similar increases both reaching 675p/kg.

Deadweight cow prices rallied after muted growth in the previous week, showing an increase of 9p/kg to reach 495p/kg. Although the cow price hasn’t been increasing at the same rate as prime cattle, this week’s 9p/kg rise is the greatest for a month suggesting it is following similar trends.

GB prime cattle slaughter was notably down for the week ending 15 March, with an estimated kill of 33,800 head, a decrease of 2,000 head representing a 5% drop compared to the previous week. Cow estimated slaughter followed a similar trend, down 700 head to an estimated 8,400 head.

The latest red meat retail performance shows that although prices have begun to increase year-on-year (average price paid is up 5.7%), volumes have remained relatively constant. This suggests good demand for beef despite the consumer starting to see some uplift in prices but will be an important watchpoint over the coming months.

For the week ending 15 March, the GB deadweight old season lamb SQQ averaged 739p/kg, remaining the same as the previous week. This was the point last year where the lamb price began to rally in the lead up to the coinciding religious events Easter and Ramadan meaning this price is down 51p compared to the same week in 2024.

Estimated kill was down by 10,500 head on the previous week to total 225,700 head, a significant drop on the week (-4.5%) and the year (-6%).

Reports suggest that heavier stock appears to be dominating the market. This is supported by Defra carcase weights in February 2024 showing a slight month on month uplift, indicating that larger lambs that have had more time to grow are supporting supply at this time.

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