The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has called for more clarity on recent data on beef imports to Ireland.
The most recently published trade data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows just over 14,000t of beef was imported into the country in the first three months of this year.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue outlined the data in response to a recent parliamentary question from Fine Gael Mayo TD Alan Dillon.
The minister said that the Irish beef sector is highly export orientated.
“Its success is dependent on the maintenance of an open, rules-based multilateral trading system,” he said.
“The latest CSO trade data for first quarter of the year shows that beef imports amounted to 12% of Irish beef exports in volume terms but only 6% in value terms,” McConalogue added.
As previously reported by Agriland, almost 54,000t of beef, with a total estimated value of €183 million, was imported from other countries to the Republic of Ireland in 2022.
ICSA
Responding to the figures, ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham has now called on the meat industry to explain why “vast quantities of beef” are being imported into the country.
“Figures published by the CSO show that 14,119t of beef was imported into Ireland in the first three months of this year which is equivalent to over 40,000 head of cattle.
“For a beef exporting nation that is a lot of technically unnecessary beef coming in and we want to know their justification for it,” he said.
“Beef farmers are under serious pressure at the minute with factories doing everything in their power to bring prices down.
“This is despite the fact that the cattle coming onto the market now must be among the most expensive we’ve ever produced due to the astronomical increase in input costs last year.
“One the one hand processors are telling us the usual ‘woe is me’ tale about demand being down, but on the other hand huge quantities of beef are being shipped in. It just doesn’t make sense,” the ICSA chair added.
Graham has also called on Minister Charlie McConalogue to provide more detail on where the beef is being imported from and what markets it is servicing.
“While we know the majority of beef imports are coming in from the UK, we do not know if it actually originated in the UK, or if it came from further afield via UK processing facilities.
“Either way, it’s a lot of beef and we need assurances that our world class traceability standards are not being compromised.
“In our view there is no reason for our multinational beef processors or retailers to import beef under the noses of local suppliers, and then complain about demand being down,” he said.