The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has accused beef factories of “failing farmers”, with average prices 33c/kg behind the Bord Bia Prime Export Benchmark price at present.
Brendan Golden, the association’s livestock chairperson, called on factories to do more for beef farmers, saying: “The opportunism of factories in continually dropping prices when they know farmers are under pressure to sell must stop.”
Golden said that processors, as well as key customers in the UK and EU markets, are “acutely aware” of the production costs on farms, calling on them to do more to offset these from the marketplace.
“The export benchmark price has increased by 6c/kg in the latest week, showing the strength of demand for beef in this key market which is at odds with the relentless and unjustified price cuts by factories on beef prices,” he said.
According to the IFA, indications are that supplies of suitably finished grass cattle are tightening on the ground. Throughput in Irish beef processing plants last week was some 40,000, with total throughput for the year now around 113,000 ahead of the same stage of last year.
This level of throughput has accounted for a significant amount of the projected increase in numbers for 2022, with Bord Bia projections saying that only around 7,000 cattle over and above last year’s throughput are available for the rest of the year.
“Cracks are starting to appear in the stranglehold factories have on price, with deals above the lower quotes easier to secure in some factories this week,” Golden said.
“The market can and must return more to beef farmers, and meat factories must start reflecting the full value of the market place in beef prices.”
According to the IFA beef chairperson, energy and input costs facing beef farmers this winter cannot be absorbed by those farmers.
“Teagasc has identified beef prices of €5.85/kg to €6/kg as necessary to cover the increase in costs for winter finishers and factory quotes are currently running €1.50/kg below these prices,” Golden said.
He added: “Winter finishers are making key production decisions on their farms and it’s not acceptable that they are being exposed to all of the risks in investing in finishing cattle while the factories refuse to provide minimum price guarantees for farmers.”