ENGLISH beef producers continued to make steady improvements in the quality of carcases marketed in the past year.

However, the latest annual carcase classification summary from the English Beef and Lamb Executive reveals plenty of scope for some producers to improve returns further by better production and marketing.

Meat and Livestock Commission carcase classification reports on more than 160,000 prime cattle slaughtered in English abattoirs in 2004 show 43pc met the preferred "R4L or better" specification.

"While the majority still fell short of the required quality for the modern market, this compares very favourably with the 41pc realised in 2003," said Kim Matthews, MLC meat scientist.

"More detailed analysis shows the progress has been achieved through improvements in both conformation and finish, the proportion of stock grading 'R or better' reaching 50pc, while 88pc graded '4L or leaner'."

English producers have proved especially adept at marketing their animals before they become too fat, with just over 10pc of all prime beef carcases grading "4H or worse". Inevitably, a higher proportion of heifers - more than 20pc - continue to be over-fat, but even this is declining.

Valuable gains in conformation and improvements in the level of finish led steer and heifer carcase quality to improve markedly over the year - 4pc more stock hitting "R4L or better" in each case.

This contrasts with the year-on-year decline in young bull quality, as a result of poorer conformation. The quality of young English bull carcases is now below that of steers.