“€6/kg is the absolute minimum beef price winter finishers should be pushing for in spring 2023,” the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association’s (ICSA’s) beef chairperson Edmund Graham has said.
Graham said unless this price is secured for beef cattle finished over the winter months, “winter finishers are looking at very bleak prospects”.
“Factory prices will have to increase steadily throughout the first few months of 2023 for finishers to have any chance of breaking even”.
He added that Teagasc has “conservatively estimated” the cost of production for winter beef to be “around €6/kg”.
ICSA 2022 beef review
Commenting on 2022, Graham said the early part of the year saw the beef trade pick up after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Demand took off and prices rose as the meat factories struggled for supplies to meet the increased demand. Things were looking reasonably good until Russia invaded Ukraine.
The ICSA beef chair remarked that prices continued strong up to June but by that time, any gains that had been made on factory prices were savagely eroded by massive hikes in feed, fuel, and fertiliser prices.
As the year progressed, Irish beef prices fell back and the gap between Irish and the EU average prices grew to a shocking 50c/kg disparity, “one of the worst levels of price performance ever endured by Irish farmers”, Graham said.
Interestingly, he noted that the highest factory prices came in early summer when cattle were coming off grass and input costs were at their lowest, then in the autumn, prices were pulled as costs skyrocketed.
The failure of Irish cattle prices to keep up with UK and EU averages was deeply concerning. He noted that the ICSA could see no valid reasons for prices to have been consistently below those in the UK and Europe for much of the year.
In this regard, the ICSA beef chair said the appointment of the long awaited AgriFood Regulator “cannot come quickly enough”.
Commenting on live cattle exports, Graham said “It was a good year for live exports and the focus must be on keeping those markets open and growing”. “Live exports only make up a small part of the mix, but it is a hugely important part and any efforts to reduce live exports must be resisted.”
2023 prospects
Commenting on the beef outlook for 2023, Graham said “production costs and tackling climate change will be the big issues facing farmers.
He expressed confidence that the demand for beef will be good, but added that his confidence in processors returning a decent price “will once again be low”.
“Any reduction in the suckler herd also has the potential to be very damaging for beef producers in terms of the supplies of quality store cattle,” Graham concluded.