Ireland: Downward pressure on beef prices ‘unacceptable and must stop’
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has hit out at what it has called “downward pressure” being applied to beef prices by meat processors, saying it is “unacceptable and must stop”.
Speaking this morning (Wednesday, August 23), Brendan Golden, the IFA’s Livestock chairperson, said that the latest prime export benchmark price has “now opened up a gap of 25c/kg with the prime Irish composite price”.
He called on processors to “move to close this gap immediately”.
“Prices in our key export markets have shown some signs of stabilising, and in cases strengthening, in the past week and it’s clear factories are not returning prices the market justifies,” he said.
The IFA said that input costs on beef farms are forecasted to increase a further 3% in 2023, following a 28% increase in 2022.
“Beef finishers do not have the capacity to absorb these cost increases,” Golden said.
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