Increasingly parties within the agri-food supply chain, i.e. producers, processors and retailers, need to respond to consumers’ demands for product quality and safety. The beef sector has numerous stages in its supply chain, and therefore price signals are very important in passing market signals along the chain. This paper uses weekly R3 and R4 steer and heifer prices in the regional markets of the UK and the Republic of Ireland to examine the effectiveness of the EUROP grade system in sending signals to the farm gate.