Sinclair dismisses talk of prices rising above £1/kg Trade fears tight spring market Finished cattle buyers are reporting the unfamiliar experience of the market moving against them. Prices started 1999 strongly and by mid month were higher than a year previously for the first time since a brief period in late summer 1997. With values continuing to rise despite slightly larger numbers of stock now coming forward, trade fears are of a tight spring market and the average liveweight price being driven from its present level of about 90p per kg to above £1. Behind the usual squabbles, producers and slaughterers agree most cattle are worth far more now than just a few weeks ago, partly a consequence of difficult finishing conditions restricting supply, but equally a symptom of genuinely buoyant demand in retail, further processing and catering. "There's a bit of restocking after a better Christmas than most people expected," acknowledges MLC economist Duncan Sinclair, who also points to the latest Taylor Nelson Sofres household purchasing survey results as proof consumers have been clamouring for at least some of the beef offer, notably mince and burgers. But Sinclair, widely respected as a beef market forecaster since his accurate assessment of price and supply prospects at the start of the BSE crisis nearly three years ago, reckons cattle prices will soon run out of steam: "I'm uneasy about talk of prices much over 90p. The average price for last year turned out at about 86p, and we're likely to find the market settling at about that level again in 1999." He sees the major restraining influences as external. The Irish, for instance, will have a lot of beef to sell in the next few months and will not secure outlets easily, partly because of problems beyond the EU's eastern borders. {{MEAT }}