Latest data from the Agri-Food Regulator shows that the factory beef sale prices are down by 3.6-3.9% despite farmer beef price down by over 10% on this time last year.

Notably, the data also shows that the year-on-year forequarter beef price change increased by 4.56% in that time.

In the final week of April 2025, steers and heifers were being quoted at €7.40/kg and €7.50/kg on the grid respectively.

The final week of April 2026, steers and heifers were being quoted at €6.60/kg and €6.70/kg on the grid respectively.

This data indicates the beef price being paid to farmers has declined by 10.8% while factory beef sale prices have increased 4.56% for forequarter beef and declined by 3.9% for hindquarter beef and down 3.64% for minced meat.

The table below details weekly beef selling prices for the last week of April in 2026 and 2025:

Beef prices being paid to farmers have continued to decline throughout May and procurement staff have not ruled out further price cuts over the June Bank Holiday Weekend.

About the Agri-Food Regulator data

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.

Last year, the Agri-Food Regulator also emphasised to Agriland 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 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.

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.