This article is from page 51 of the 2007-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 51 JPG
CLARE farmer and Chairperson of ICMSA’s Beef and Cattle Commit- tee Martin McMahon, last week said that there is no basis for the down- ward pressure on beef prices over the last few weeks and that prices should be rising to bridge the gap that ex- ists between Irish prices and prices in other EU markets.
According to McMahon, farm- ers who are selling cattle this week are losing money, particularly in the context of the significantly higher feed costs relative to 12 months ago.
He said that the prices farmers are receiving are not adequate to com- pensate for these additional costs and prices need to rise to reflect that reality.
“Irish beef prices are still 23c/kg below prices in England, 1lc/kg be- low Northern Ireland prices and 25c/ kg below French prices with this rep- resenting a massive gap equivalent to up to €80 per head,” said the Beef and Cattle Committee Chairperson.
‘There is an ongoing and growing deficit in EU beef markets and it is now well past the time that the meat plants closed this gap and returned
improved prices to farmers.
“The gap that exists is simply not warranted given developments in the EU beef markets in the past number of years. The latest attempt this week to cut beef prices is very short-sight- ed and can only serve to undermine the future of the Irish beef sector.
“There had to be a realisation, in all quarters, that the future of the beef industry itself 1s what is at stake and if the sector is to develop further then prices will have to increase to a realistic level.”
Meanwhile, the IFA’s National Livestock Committee Chairman,
John Bryan, last week accused the factories of managing and manipu- lating cattle numbers and prices.
“The factories’ latest move this week, to cut prices, was a real kick in the teeth to winter finishers who have endured losses of in excess of €100 per head this winter,’ he said.
“At a time when prices were ris- ing in our main market in the UK, it was a scandal that Irish factories were attempting to cut prices. It is an even bigger scandal that some facto- ries were importing cattle and telling their farmer clients that they must cut the price.”