Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has been called on to “reconvene the Beef Market Taskforce next month” for stakeholders to “explain a manipulation” in the market place.
Making the calls, the Irish Beef and Lamb Association (IBLA) said that the taskforce “is the only forum available to farmers to have their grievances aired with regard to tactics in the meat industry”, claiming:
“No sooner was it said in July that it may be the last taskforce meeting, when it was mooted that there was a…withdrawal of feedlot buyers from marts.
“This in turn has filtered through to an unjustified price pull by meat factories. IBLA sees this as opportunistic and a strategic attempt to further reduce cattle prices going in to the weeks and months ahead.”
Noting that the UK market is flagged as Ireland’s main market for beef, with 50% of our beef exports entering the UK market annually, the association said:
“From IBLA observations, we can see that consistent price increases for beef in the UK, a smaller pool of cattle being currently available and an increased demand for and consumption of Irish beef, the reduction of 10c by factories is unjustifiable.”
Outlining its stance and call to the Department of Agriculture that the Beef Market Taskforce should be reconvened, the organisation claimed:
“Factory representatives and Bord Bia must be requested to attend to explain this manipulation of the market place, which is a disadvantage to farmers and an advantage to others along the supply chain.
“Once again, it is abundantly evident that there is a need for an independent meat regulator with statutory powers to police the meat industry in Ireland,” the organisation concluded.
This follows comments last month from the body’s chairman Michael Dowling that the taskforce has “largely done what it was set up to do” and does not have a long-term future under its current remit.