Foot-and-mouth crisis major threat to markets
Foot-and-mouth crisis major threat to markets
By James Garner
THE ban on all livestock movements will threaten the future of some auction markets, particularly if it lasts as long as predicted.
Auctioneers are now resigned to a lengthy ban, leaving them facing several weeks without commission revenue.
Most are equally worried about the long-term implications. In their view, a long ban is potentially devastating and could force livestock buyers and suppliers out of business. Even if auctioneers can survive lost revenue, it is their belief that something must be done to ensure that buyers and producers also remain in business.
A prolonged ban on stock movements would really stretch some markets. Peter Kingwill, chairman of the Livestock Auctioneers Association, estimates that each week markets turn over £25m. On commission rates of 2.5%, thats £625,000 of lost income.
Some markets stand to lose more. Welshpool, one of the UKs busiest Monday markets, sells 8000 sheep and 350 cattle on that day and probably lost about £15,000 of income from the blanket ban.
But auctioneers stand behind moves to stem the spread of the disease, says Mr Kingwill. "Its a huge loss of income and is very concerning. We support the ban at the initial seven days. Beyond that we will have to look seriously at animal welfare on farms."
Throughout the country, markets are tightening belts. But John Jones of Welsh Livestock Sales, which runs the Welshpool market, says there are only a few costs that can be cut.
"We will save a little on casual staff and have put all our full-time staff on holiday. But we will still have to pay rates."
Graham Ellis of Colchester Market in Essex said the movement ban looks likely to last at least two to three weeks. "We will have to keep our head above water. Staff will continue to come in, but we have cut our advertising spend already."
Frank Yeo, director of KVN Stockdale, which owns markets at Hallworthy and Hatherleigh, near one of the foot-and-mouth outbreaks, remains optimistic that most of the lost revenue will be recovered.
"All markets are suffering, but there will be a backlog of stock and after movement bans are lifted a fair proportion of these will come forward, provided trade recovers."
For any markets caught up in an outbreak, tracing stock has given auctioneers sleepless nights. One of the countrys largest sheep markets, Longtown, near Carlisle, has been at the centre of the crisis since the weekend.
A spokesman told farmers weekly how devastated auctioneers were when they discovered they had traded stock unawares from an affected area.
"On Saturday night we hoped that the outbreak could be contained in Northumberland and Essex. On Sunday morning our world fell apart when we learnt we had traded infected stock. Since then we have tried to join up every link and trace every sheep out of this auction."
Fortunately, Longtown, which sells 20,000 sheep/week has a sophisticated tracing system that means every lamb can be tracked. Staff have worked doubly hard to ensure MAFF has this information, said the spokesman. *
AUCTION MARKETS
• Loss of commission.
• Belt-tightening.
• Tracing infected stock.