Irish protect UK beef premium
28 January 2000
Irish protect UK beef premium
ACTION by Irish farmer pickets which has pushed beef prices up by 9% will help protect UK premiums, claims the National Beef Association.
About 10% of the beef bought by British consumers is produced in the Republic of Ireland and has been bought at 143p/kg deadweight compared with 182p/kg (R4L steers) on the mainland. But that gap has now closed after this weeks deal with processors, which will see prices in the republic climb to 158p/kg.
"The fact that all the processors in the Republic of Ireland agreed under duress after negotiations to immediately lift prices by almost 9%, or around £40 for a 320kg carcass, confirms that previous price fixing had nothing to do with market forces and cements suspicions that they were discounted by common agreement instead," said the NBAs Robert Forster.
Action spread to Northern Ireland, with producers demanding a significant lift in prices above the current 160p/kg. The NBA reckons this could reinforce British beef prices further. *