Falling beef cattle values have at long last been reversed with prices jumping as much as 10p per deadweight kg this week on the back of reduced supplies.

Instead of having to sell off under finished cattle,due to the severe shortage of feed and forage caused by the drought, new found grass growth following the recent rain is enabling many producers to finish stock more to spec, thereby significantly reducing supplies on the market.

As result, most abattoirs upped prices by at least 5p per deadweight kg, with ABP at Perth, increasing values by 10p overnight.

"There has been a lot of plainish, under-finished cattle coming on the market and a lot more cull cows sold in recent weeks because farmers have not had the grass or the feed either to finish them properly or to keep them for another year," explained Scott Donaldson, joint managing director of Harrison and Hetherington based at Carlisle.

"But, there is a lot more optimism in the sector now as there has been a fair bit of rain up and down the country over the past couple of weeks. Grass is growing again and people are looking to another cut of silage, so there is not the same pressure to sell," added Mr Donaldson.

It was a point echoed by Aberdeen and Northern Marts' prime cattle auctioneer, Tim MacDonald. "There is a lot more grass up here so feeding cattle is not the same problem it was. At the same time, prime cattle numbers have virtually dried up and, as a result, should get dearer in the next couple of weeks," he said.

"Prices might take a dip in October if more are cashed rather than finished inside, but there is a lot more confidence in the job with many looking to another cut of silage and store lambs to finish," said Tim.

Store cattle values have also increased on the back of increased grass growth, with the last sale at Thainstone, significantly up on the previous week's event. A good show of bullocks and heifers saw values jump 17p and 16p to 225p and 216.7p per live kg respectively.

But while there is a lot more confidence in the industry, Aberdeen and Nrothern Marts manager, John Angus warned that prime cattle values remain below that of this time last year and cattle farmers face increased costs this winter.

"There is more optimism about the job this month compared to last month, but feed prices are still going to be higher than last year and straw will be an issue. We just have to hope for a good open back-end," he said.

While the most up to date deadweight reports from AHDB don't take into account this week's increased prices, they do show throughputs are down significantly across the board and prices pretty much on a par with the previous week.

For the week ending August 11, GB numbers of steers slaughtered slipped by 1.8% on the week to average 355.2p (-0.5p), with those in Scotland down a massive 14.1% to average 371.7p (-0.2p). Heifer throughputs also slipped GB-wise by 7.0% to 356.0p (-0.8p), with the number in Scotland rising slightly on the week to average 372.4p (-1.4p).

Young bull and cow numbers were also well down, with GB throughputs falling 4.4% and 14.5%, respectively to average 336.2p (-1.9p) and 223.2p (-0.9p) on the week. In Scotland young bull throughputs and prices were on a par with the previous week at 356.2p, while a 27.2% fall in cow numbers saw values drop 6.2p to average 253.6p.

Next week's figures should be a lot more positive though ...

The other good beef news story this week is UK fresh/frozen beef exports increased by 14%, or 6800 tonnes in the first half of the year to total 56,500 tonnes, with increases recorded to the top five export markets for UK beef. Notably, exports to the Netherlands rose by 32% (+3200 tonnes) during the period Jan-June while shipments to Germany increased by 60%, although at 2600 tonnes this only represents 4.7% of the UK export market.

With more than 34% market share, Ireland is the main destination for UK beef exports and in the year to June, exports increased 22% (+3500 tonnes) to total 19,600 tonnes.

Exports to Hong Kong, the largest market for UK beef outside Europe were up 13% (+440 tonnes) to total 3900 tonnes with a value of just over £1.5m in the year to June.

UK fresh/frozen beef imports in the first six months of 2018 were up 5% (+6200 tonnes) to total 136,300 tonnes. This was primarily driven by increased imports from Ireland, however import trade from outside the EU also grew.