Ireland: Beef price cuts ‘targeted’ and ‘geographic’
A further 5c cut in beef prices set to be pushed through by factories this week sees quotes now back 15c in three weeks and 10-15c/kg below where they were this time last year.
Beef finishers are said to be reeling from the cuts as they contend with high costs, while factory agents point to higher-than-expected supplies due to the wet spring.
Bases for bullocks are now at €5.05/kg and heifers at €5.10/kg, while quotes for young bulls and cull cows are also back this week.
Michael O’Connell, chair of ICMSA’s livestock committee, claimed this week’s fall in prices paid by the factories was “targeted” and “geographic”.
He said there were indications that factories in the broader Border region were paying up to 5c per kg higher than was being offered to farmers selling in, for instance, Cork.
“The proximity to the North is probably the decisive factor here; the fact that the Border factories know that the option to bring cattle north is relatively straightforward means that they have to pay that difference.
“They don’t offer that extra 5c per kg in Munster because that option to go north is much more problematic and expensive,” he claimed.