Meat Industry Ireland (MII) has issued a statement accusing Beef Plan Movement of making “inaccurate and misleading claims in relation to producer share of the retail price”.

MII has said it refutes claims made in a statement yesterday, Saturday, September 7, by the Beef Plan which suggested that MII had said that the retailer takes the largest share of the retail price for beef.

According to MII: “This is inaccurate and misleading, both in content and attribution to MII.”

MII said it previously indicated in a statement on August 23, that the producer share of the retail beef price is closer to two-thirds.

MII also indicated that “Irish beef is sold across several market channels (retail, food-service, wholesale and manufacturing) and 90% of our overall sales are to export markets”.

The current price pressure in the beef sector is linked to depressed demand for beef in our European and UK markets and the uncertainty surrounding a no-deal Brexit, now just 50 days away.

Concluding, the MII statement said: “It remains the case that the price paid to Irish farmers for their cattle is at the average of that paid to their European counterparts”.