Joe Healy emphasised to the Minister that to be effective the beef forum has to work for the whole sector and that means it must deliver for farmers as well as for others.

Healy said the meat factories had overhyped the Brexit result and taken advantage on cattle price.

"Beef industry commentators had suggested that the sterling devaluation was 16% and some even went as far as 25%. This was totally incorrect and the facts are the sterling adjustment is 7%. In addition, UK beef prices have increased by 10p/kg since Brexit.”

Healy therefore called on the factories to stop the negativity and the price cuts and told Minister Creed it is vital that confidence is restored and maintained at farm level.

Bord Bia presentation

Bord Bia presented forecast cattle supply figures to the forum which showed a reduction of 44,000 head in the number of beef cattle in the 24-36 month age group compared to 1 June last year.

The IFA said this should leave prime finished cattle supplies tight over the coming weeks and months. Healy said the Bord Bia figures also show that there is a considerable increase in younger cattle numbers from increased registrations and lower live exports.

With the increase in younger cattle supplies, Healy added that the forum has to ensure that there are adequate markets and outlets to meet the increase and return a viable and competitive price to farmers above the costs of production.

The president also raised a number of other issues at the Forum including increased resources on market access, the Government strategy on Brexit, reopening the Beef Data and Genomics Scheme, live exports and Turkey, and specifications including age, weight and residencies.

MII reaction

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed announced at Thursday's beef forum that he will be establishing a meat sub-group to oversee implementation of the meat related action points in FoodWise 2025.

Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the Ibec body representing the meat processing sector, welcomed this decision and said, "given the importance of the livestock and meat sector to the economy, the diversity of action points across the different meat categories - beef, pigmeat, sheepmeat and poultry - and the ambitious growth plans, it is important that a representative group from stakeholders would work with the relevant Departments and agencies to drive the implementation process.

MII also said the beef forum session had been "positive and constructive" and offered the opportunity for some "good engagement on several key strategic issues of importance to the cattle and beef sector including Brexit, GHG emission reduction targets set this week by the European Commission, trade negotiations and a refocused clean livestock policy."

Forum members also touched on challenging market conditions in continental Europe, where a trend of re-nationalisation, particularly in France, is impacting returns, and concerns in relation to increased cattle supply over the coming months and ability of export markets to absorb additional output.

According to MII, both producer and processor representatives were clear on the need to drive the market access agenda to ensure that new market opportunities, particularly in the US and China, can actually be pursued to maximise opportunity and market return for Irish beef from the marketplace.

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