Meat factories must increase their prices to close the “unacceptable” gap between prime Irish beef prices and prime export benchmark price, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Tim Cullinan has said.
He said that the Irish price is now over 40c/kg behind the Bord Bia prime export benchmark price, which is the largest price differential recorded in 2023.
The IFA president noted that prices in the UK alone are running almost €1/kg above what is being paid to Irish farmers.
“This is unacceptable profiteering by our processors and it must stop immediately. We need to see a significant price increase without delay,” he said.
Meat factories
Cullinan said it is not acceptable that some meat factories persist in offering lower quotes when base prices of €4.65 and €4.70/kg are available for steers and heifers, with higher prices for specialist and larger lots.
The IFA president claimed that factories “took advantage of the extreme weather conditions”, which forced farmers to sell cattle in recent weeks, by “holding back on price increases”.
“The dynamic has now shifted with supplies of suitable cattle not meeting demand. Over the past week, factories have had to pay up to 10c/kg above quotes to secure cattle,” he said.
The IFA president said that supplies of cattle are tight in the UK, which enhances the opportunity for Irish beef farmers as factories start to build stocks for the increased seasonal demand.
“Factories must reflect the realities of the market place and increase beef price,” Cullinan said.
Meanwhile, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) is also calling on meat factories and Bord Bia to explain how a €1/kg price differential between British and Irish prime cattle can be justified
The association’s beef committee chair Edmund Graham claimed that the price gap “shows that factories are fleecing farmers”.
“This differential is the highest in living memory and comes at a time when prices on the continent are moving upwards,” he said.