MOST beef co-product prices are higher than month-ago and year-ago levels.

The key driver of high beef offal prices is reduced slaughter throughput in key producing countries such as Australia, Brazil and Argentina this year.

For beef, the highlight performers have been hides. As Beef Central reported last month, in 2020, many hides were of low or no commercial value due to COVID-19 and its impact on retail leather demand.

Fast forward to 2021 as global discretionary spending is picking up, and strong demand from the upholstery and automotive sectors has pushed prices for hides to better levels.

As this graph shows, good Victorian heavy hides are now averaging around $40 each, and up to $49 in places – a dramatic rise from their 2020 depths around June-July. At their peak in 2014, however, the same hides were worth as much as $120-$130. Queensland hides have risen to around $20 each this year, while NSW hides are between the two.

Current hide prices have received some degree of resistance from international buyers, however.

Tallow and foetal calf blood prices have also performed solidly this year, on the back of reduced cattle slaughter. Foetal calf blood, a pharmaceutical product, has risen $45/litre year-on-year to average $460/litre.

Among edible offals, beef tongues are fetching $17.23/kg, an increase of 100pc on May 2020 prices.

Source: MLA