TOTAL deductions claimed by abattoirs before paying their suppliers can vary by as much as £13 a carcase, the National Beef Association's first cattle marketing report has revealed.

It says some plants are taking £21 off in charges while others processing similar types of animal take off just £8 a head, including £3.50 in MLC levy.

"We set up our cattle marketing report to introduce a shaft of daylight into a very murky area and one of the first things that struck us was not just the range of deductions but the widely different areas in which the deductions are made," explained NBA chief executive, Robert Forster.

"One plant is charging £15 a head to kill steers while others take off nothing; another deducts £5.13 for SRM removal, up to £3.50 can be taken off for clipping and one company simply puts down an unlisted £7.98 charge."

He said there were no common features. A number of abattoirs made no deductions for classification, insurance, veterinary attendance or cleansing and disinfection but others did.

"In almost all instances there is a heavy charge in a single area, such as the slaughter fee, which is a characteristic of the company concerned, but in the majority of cases is ignored by the others."

The NBA would like finishers to challenge the companies which make the heaviest deductions.

"So far the biggest variation between the lightest and heaviest charges is £13 for steers and £11.13 for heifers but we are sure that, when more kill sheets are sent in to us for checking, we will discover that the range is even wider," said Mr Forster.

"The removal of an additional £11-£13 a head is a significant sum and takes quite a chunk out of the bottom line of each animal. We want deadweight finishers to identify which plants are most likely to deliver consistently better net returns and then hook up with them to make sure they sell their cattle at the best possible advantage.

"We have noticed that some of the companies which deduct heavily offer an extra 1p-2p per dwkg to attract feeders to them but in none of the examples we have seen did this enticement come anywhere near covering the deductions which forced down the net price received per animal.