The Irish composite beef price is running 40c/kg below the export benchmark price, latest figures from Bord Bia have shown.

The Bord Bia beef market tracker indicates that as of March 21, the Irish composite price for beef was €6.62/kg, a total of 40c/kg below the Export Benchmark price of €7.02.

To put this differential into context, the same time last year, Irish composite price was 49c/kg above the export benchmark and 6c/kg above it this time two years ago

What does Irish composite and export benchmark mean?

The Irish composite price equates to the average price per kilo paid for all animals slaughtered in Ireland on a weekly basis, based on the percentage of animals in the different categories annually (steers, young bulls, heifers and cows) and the main carcass grades.

The export benchmark price is a market indicator which takes account of the prevailing cattle prices for the different carcass categories and grades across the main export markets for Irish beef.

The graph below illustrates the Irish composite price versus the export benchmark price as shown on the Bord Bia cattle price dashboard:

Looking specifically at steer prices, latest Bord Bia data shows that the average 'R3' steer price in the UK as of March 14 was €7.36/kg. The EU equivalent was €7.09/kg, and the Irish 'R3' steer price came in at €6.92/kg.

For context, the US steer price was €7.03/kg, and in South America, the Brazilian steer price was much lower at €3.28/kg.

According to the Bord Bia cattle price dashboard update: "Demand for beef in key export markets has remained sluggish over recent weeks."

"While lower demand is reported across practically all cuts, higher value steak cuts have experienced the most notable declines.

"The impact of inflationary pressures on consumers, increasing availability of non-European beef in certain markets and growing competition from competitively priced pork and poultry products have had a detrimental effect on the demand for Irish beef in some of our key export markets."