Cattle farmers have been receiving strong prices as a shortage of animals here and increased demand abroad continue to push up prices.
Bord Bia's "Market Monitor" reported that the cattle trade remained firm during the week with prices of €2.80/kg (100p/lb) available and prices averaging €2.69/kg (96p/lb) for steers and heifers.
"Cattle throughput at export meat plants for the week ending April 3rd, 2004, amounted to almost 30,000 head, which is some 1,500 lower than week-earlier levels," said the report.
"Steer supplies amounted to almost 16,000 head, while heifer throughput was around 7,000 head.
"Cow supplies declined to 4,800 head, almost 500 head lower than week-earlier levels. Total cow supplies to date are almost 8 per cent below corresponding 2003 levels," it added.
To date this year, export plants have processed 425,741 cattle, compared with 449,975 in the corresponding period last year.
A week-on-week comparison between the two years showed that last week's kill was 25,593 animals compared with 34,713 in the previous year.
The overall drop in the number of cattle available for slaughter has been estimated at more than 5 per cent.
This has pushed the average price up by between 5 and 6 per cent for steers and heifers and upwards of 17 per cent for cows.
The pressure to find animals and the increasing costs which factories have to pay have already led to at least one of the smaller plants, Fair Oaks in Clonmel, closing down temporarily.
The Irish Farmers' Association last week told its members to insist on being paid for cattle on the day they were sold.