Factory beef sale prices update from the Agri-food Regulator
The Agri-Food Regulators' beef dashboard shows the latest available factory beef sale prices, with the pricing information broken down into three main categories.
The latest data available is for the week ending Sunday, December 14, and shows annual price increases ranging from 28.18-42.5% across the three categories.
2025 was a largely positive year for beef farmers, with significant increases in the prices returned to farmers seen over the course of the year.
The regulator publishes weekly aggregate selling prices for the following three categories:
- Beef forequarter;
- Beef hindquarter;
- 5% fat content beef minced meat.
The Agri-Food Regulator has previously acknowledged that the limitations of this process should be taken into consideration when interpreting the figures, as the values provided represent selling prices and no costs are accounted for.
The graph below gives an overview of the Irish weekly selling prices for beef in these three main categories:
Last year, the Agri-Food Regulator also emphasised to Agriland that that the published beef prices for mince beef on its website are "not representative of the overall value attainable by mince beef".
This is because the price published is specifically for beef mince sold in 500g packs and with 5% fat content only.
The table below details the weekly selling prices recorded from September to early December of 2025:
The method used to produce the values takes an average of the yield data for all bovine animals, captured by each processor from the previous year, to weight the value of cuts produced from the carcass.
These weighted values are then reconstituted back into forequarter and hindquarter sections by each processor, as defined by a standardised cutting technique, to produce composite values for each section.
The standardised cutting technique used in this process is the ‘Italian Pistola Cut’. The main features of this cut are that it maximises yield and value by separating high-value muscles and emphasises premium cuts, according to the regulator.
The table below details the latest available information on the weekly selling prices for beef forequarter, beef hindquarter, and beef minced meat:
| Beef forequarter (€/kg) | Beef hindquarter (€/kg) | Minced Beef 5%fat (€/kg) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week ending Sunday, Dec 14: | €7.18 | €9.50/kg | €11.19/kg |
| Weekly change: | -0.01% | -0.01% | +0.19% |
| year-on-year change: | +42.50% | +28.18% | +29.32% |
A weighting based on the previous year’s national kill is applied to the submitted values to create a single weighted average value for each of the three reported prices.
These weekly weighted average values are then reported to the EU.
This method was selected to satisfy the requirements of European regulations, with a view to realising the value accruing to processors with different customer bases and final demands.
