Factories have been accused of trying to “take advantage” of the weather conditions that farmers are currently battling by holding back beef prices.
According to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) market conditions and the supplies of finished cattle “justify” stronger beef prices.
The IFA national livestock chair, Declan Hanrahan, today (Friday, April 12) pointed to the Prime Export Benchmark Price- which increased a further 4c/kg in the latest Bord Bia report – as a strong reflection of the demand for beef in Ireland’s key export markets.
But Hanrahan said prices are currently over 10c/kg behind this time last year while beef prices in the UK are currently at over 12c/kg ahead of last year for the latest reported week.
He believes there is simply is no justification for the disparity and urged factories to “move beef prices on”.
Beef prices
“Demand for beef is extremely strong in the UK, Northern Ireland factories are freely offering 5c/kg more for ROI cattle than some factories here for direct slaughter, agents for these factories are also very active in marts adding to competition for finished and forward store cattle,” the IFA national livestock chair highlighted.
Hanrahan said that Bord Bia had predicted supplies to be back 30,000 to 40,000 cattle for the year.
He said more than 24,000 more cattle have been processed to-date this year which “significantly” reduces the numbers available for factories in the coming weeks and months.
“The strong performance of live exports to-date for stores and weanlings and the projections for the year will also reduce the numbers of cattle available to factories further,” Hanrahan warned.
He has also cautioned that difficult weather conditions because of persistent rain has created “huge expense” for suckler and beef farmers because they have had to cope with delayed turnout and increased feed requirements, which Hanrahan said will have knock on effects for the rest of the year.
The IFA national livestock chair said: “Attempts by factories to take advantage of these difficulties by holding back on beef price and playing their usual games of pushing back cattle is not acceptable, will not wash with farmers and must stop.”
“Factories must reflect the full value of our key markets by increasing beef prices to offset these additional costs on farms and to retain confidence in the live trade”.
Hanrahan is adamant that current market conditions justify further price increases.
“Supplies are expected to be extremely tight over the coming weeks and months, farmers should not buy in to any negative propaganda from factories or their agents, sell hard and demand further beef price increases,” he said.