The livestock chairperson of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has said that the beef price should experience a “decent” rise as the month develops.
Des Morrison said that the throughput was going to challenge the ability of factories to keep prices down, arguing that the current difference between Irish and UK prices for an R3 steer was evidence that “Irish prices were being actively managed downwards”.
“Throughput was down 4,829 head in the last two weeks of April and is actually down 1,441 head to the end of April for the same period last year. Even with the feedlots, the tightening in numbers is going to make a price rise inevitable and our opinion is that it might be a decent price rise,” argued Morrison.
“This year the prices seem to have plateaued around €3.60/kg. They’re up around €3.69/kg just now, but that’s still a massive 30c/kg behind this time last year, and it’s resulting in losses to the farmers of around €120/head on an average steer,” he highlighted.
Morrison said that pressure was building on factories to realise the extent of the challenges facing farmers; this, he said, combined with the typical price movement this time of year, and the tightening of throughput numbers, would result in a price bump.
“A price rise is ‘in the system’ and may develop quite quickly as this month goes forward,” he claimed.
He concluded: “I’d be telling farmers to bargain hard.”