The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is estimating that falling beef prices are currently costing Irish farmers around €2 million per week.
The association said that the gap between Irish beef price and the Bord Bia export benchmark price currently stands at 19c/kg, and is continuing to widen.
IFA president Tim Cullinan is calling on meat factories to immediately address this gap which he said is costing the Irish livestock sector millions.
“We estimate that the gap between the export benchmark price and the Irish beef price is costing the Irish beef farmers about €2 million per week at the moment.
“This is at a time where farmers are really struggling due to bad weather and escalating costs,” he said.
Beef prices
The IFA president said that “farmers need every cent that is in the market to be returned to them”.
“Instead of closing the gap with the benchmark price, factories are going in the other direction with beef price,” he said.
Cullinan said that while beef prices internationally are on a downward trend, the recent declines in Irish prices have been much steeper than what has occurred in other markets.
IFA National Livestock Committee chair, Brendan Golden added: “It’s about time factories started supporting farmers instead of short-changing them which is clearly the case at the moment.”
As reported by Agriland, factory quotes for finished cattle this week have continued to fall with most outlets reducing quotes by an further 5c/kg across the board.
Price quotes for heifers and bullocks (steers) have now fallen by approximately 60c/kg since quotes peaked in April of this year.
On a 350kg carcass, this 60c/kg price drop would equate to €210/head.
Outlets that have the majority of their cattle bought for this week are indicating a further 5c/kg price reduction for next week’s cattle.