Scotland-National Beef Association angry over Northern Ireland beef processors.
THE National Beef Association yesterday claimed that processors in Northern Ireland were driving down prices throughout Great Britain by importing live cattle from the Republic of Ireland for subsequent shipment to all the leading English markets.
According to the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) in Northern Ireland, deliveries of live cattle from the Republic during January and February were up 60 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
Oisin Murnion, the NBA chairman in NorthernIreland, said: "We know that UK processors have been trying for weeks to resist rising slaughter cattle prices and after spotting this surge in imports we cannot help but conclude they have decided that the Northern Ireland market is open to relatively easy manipulation through the importation of (live] cattle.
"It would appear it is worth paying well above the odds, in sterling terms, for 15 per cent of cattle processed if the extra numbers make it easier to force down the value of the remaining 85 per cent."
The latest weekly bulletin from LMC points out that the average Northern Ireland price for steers grading at "R4", which is the category demanded by most buyers, at 269p per kg on the hook is about 5p short of the trade in the Republic, but this ignores the fact that sterling is weak against the euro. This still makes life increasingly difficult for the huge processing plants in the Republic, especially with its economy under immense pressure.
Despite yesterday’s assertions from the NBA on price pressure for UK producers the actuality is that returns in the early live markets of this week edged upwards by as much as 3p per kg, while the deadweight trade remains strong.
But the fact remains that UK consumers are hugely reliant of imports of beef from Ireland. In the first eight months of 2008 UK imports from the Republic totalled just short of 97,000 tonnes – up by 4,000 tonnes on the same period of 2007. The Irish industry, despite its current problems, will always remain the UK’s number one supplier of beef. No less than half of the UK’s annual import requirement of close on 200,000 tonnes, in various forms, crosses the Irish Sea.
Allan Jess, president of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW), said: "Supplies remain extremely tight and I find it difficult to reconcile the assertions of the NBA with what is happening in the real world.
"Demand remains very strong and Easter has every chance of being of good period for our members and the trade in general.
"However, our big worry is the continuing decline in beef production in both Scotland and the UK. The reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2005 resulted in the decoupling of direct support from production. Inevitably many farmers have cut back.
"But it is worth noting that in both France and the Netherlands, where direct support is still a feature, beef production has increased. If we are to retain critical mass in Scotland, then there has to be some form of linkage with cattle in the chain."
Jess confirmed that he has raised this issue with Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet secretary for rural affairs, and has had a sympathetic hearing. Lochhead has the ability to address this core topic through his revamp of the £1.6 billion Scottish Rural Development Programme, and it is just possible that he will have some news when he addresses the annual conference of SAMW this month in Edinburgh.
The 30 per cent fall in sales of cars may at first sight appear to have little connection with beef production. But Jess was keen to point out that typical value of a cattle hide at a best of £14 is 50 per cent lower than two years ago. He concluded: "If people don’t buy cars, then there is less demand for leather seats, and the same holds true for shoes and handbags. That works right back through the chain, even to farmers."
