Approximately 250-300 farmers were in attendance at a contentious Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) beef meeting which took place in Portlaoise, Co. Laois last night (Tuesday, November 23).
The meeting was organised at short notice by the IFA following the revelation that Irish beef prices had fallen over 50c/kg behind the Export Benchmark Price.
The meeting was attended by Dawn Meats representative Paul Nolan, who was at the receiving end of some of the toughest criticism and farmer questioning on the night.
Needless to say, the meeting was not Nolan’s first rodeo, and he took both the questions and criticism from farmers and responded to them to the best of his ability.
While Nolan was optimistic of price increases to beef finishers, he could not commit to what level, but did note that supplies of finished cattle will likely dip at some stage early next year.
“I think the supply/demand ratio will keep things positive,” he said.
It was evident at the meeting that farmers were frustrated because, unfortunately, it seems very little can be said with certainty when it comes to price and margin in the beef trade.
Frustration
Many farmers (some finishing cattle and others not) came along on the night to voice their frustration at the tight margins and other issues associated with the beef sector.
Strangely, despite 2021 being a relatively positive year for beef finishers and cattle prices on the rise again, the mood in the room seemed to be overwhelmingly negative.
Steer base price has recovered by 15-20c/kg over the past two weeks with a base price of €4.65-€4.70/kg available at many outlets this week. This is up from the €4.50/kg on the grid that was being paid for steers as recently as two weeks ago.
According to the Bord Bia beef market tracker, as of Saturday, November 5, the prime Irish composite price was 46c/kg behind the prime EU benchmark price.
To put this into context, the prime Irish composite price was above the prime EU benchmark price for virtually all of 2020 and 2021.
The meeting was chaired by Laois IFA county chair Francie Gorman and the speakers on the night were as follows:
- Tim Cullinan, IFA president;
- Brendan Golden, IFA national livestock chairperson;
- Aidan Murray, Teagasc beef specialist;
- Joe Burke, Bord Bia;
- Paul Nolan, Dawn Meats.
IFA president Tim Cullinan outlined that the price-lag on Irish beef compared to key export markets is costing beef farmers “at least €6 million a week”.
IFA’s Cullinan and Golden highlighted the situation winter beef finishers are currently facing and did not escape tough questioning from farmers in the crowd on the night.
Cullinan was told by one farmer in the crowd that “it was the beef farmer vote” that got him across the line in his IFA presidential bid. The farmer asked Cullinan what the farm organisation will do to address the situation being faced by beef farmers.
Cullinan said the meeting was organised to help address the situation faced by winter beef finishers and added that the farm organisation would continue to work on it.
Teagasc and Bord Bia
Teagasc’s beef specialist Aidan Murray stressed the importance of doing a budget when deciding what the best option is for a particular farm.
Interestingly, he also said: “We need to buy [store cattle] wisely. If we give away a lot when buying the store, it accounts for 69% of the overall cost this year on sample winter finishing budgets.
“We need to sit down, do our sums and see does this work for us,” he added.
Bord Bia’s beef sector manager Joe Burke gave an in-depth beef market outlook.
He said that the latest R3 male cattle price in Ireland was at €4.52/kg and outlined the UK average price is €5.11 and the EU average for R3 young bulls is €5.08/kg.
Burke noted a “significant differential” had opened up and said “we would have to go back to 2010 when we were last this far behind the EU average cattle price”.
He added that the beef kill is expected to hit 1.81 million head this year making it the highest cattle kill since 1999. He noted that the beef kills are expected to decline next year.
Responding to a question from Agriland on the resumption of Irish beef exports to China following its suspension, Burke said: “It’s only in the last month that we heard the relevant market access body in China has been reopening the file on Irish beef.
“They haven’t been immediately making any decisions but they have been making some positive enquiries,” Burke explained.
The IFA national beef meeting drew to a close shortly before 11:00p.m after almost two hours of questioning and comments from farmers.