Tesco Ireland has confirmed that it will maintain the same price it is paying for beef up to June 2020, when it will review the situation again.
The company said it is very conscious of the pressure that beef farmers are under due to Covid-19, with beef prices falling and other major purchasers and markets disappearing.
Speaking today, Wednesday, April 1, Joe Manning, commercial director of Tesco Ireland, said:
These are unprecedented times for everyone and it makes sense to honour the market conditions for beef as they were pre-Covid-19 in January of this year.
“Beef farmers, as a very busy and critical essential service at this time, need to be supported.”
Continuing, Manning said:
“We want to support our beef farming families by continuing to pay the same price to our processors for the next three months, as it has been since the start of 2020 when Covid-19 wasn’t a factor.”
This move is one of a number taken by Tesco Ireland since the Covid-19 crisis began last month.
Amongst the measures taken has been to speed up payments to all its small suppliers, so they are paid within five days.
It has also initiated dedicated shopping times for key groups such as older people, family carers and health workers.
Tesco is one of the biggest purchasers of Irish food and drink in the world and works with 480 Irish food suppliers and by extension 13,000 farming families across the country.