Beef producers urgently need €6/kg to cover increasing input costs on farms, the beef chair of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), Edmund Graham has said.
The beef chair said “processors are continuing to adopt a stance of ‘can pay more – won’t pay more’ despite prices falling well behind European averages”.
Last week, the ICSA said that beef prices need to hit the €6/kg mark to cover the cost of production amid rising input costs.
Graham explained that this week prices equivalent to €5.90-€6/kg were paid in the marts by factory agents. He added:
“If processors can pay that at the marts, then there is no excuse for failing to do the same at the factory gate.
“It is unconscionable that Irish beef should be over 10c behind our European counterparts,” the ICSA beef chair said.
Bord Bia’s market tracker for last week showed that the EU average stood at €4.53 while the average price in Ireland was €4.41, according to Graham.
He explained:
“This is shocking when you consider how much our costs have increased and when there is evidence that factories can, and are, paying substantially more in the marts.”
Referring to data which the ICSA collected from marts nationwide over the past week, the beef chair said they have repeatedly seen stock in the 600+kg region making upwards of €1,800.
Sales included 625kg animals which were bought for €2,000/piece, 665kg stock for €2,040, 700kg animals going for €2,110 and a 725kg animal making over €2,170, according to data from the ICSA.
“Even at conservative kill-out percentages you are hitting the €6/kg mark. That is what beef is worth to them, and what they are willing to stump up at the marts,” he argued.
Graham said that these prices must transfer across to the factory gate and farmers need to keep demanding higher prices.
“The evidence is there that processors can give more. It is clear that they are choosing to walk all over beef farmers which is shameful, particularly now when our costs have risen so steeply,” the ICSA beef chair said.