New data from the European Commission beef forecast working group suggests that beef output will be up this year to 6.53m tonnes.

Beef output is expected to rise by 3% across the EU-15. This will be driven by increases in Italy, Netherlands, France and Spain, with production in Germany expected to remain stable. Outside of the EU-15, beef output in Poland is expected to rise by 5%.

Meanwhile in Ireland, supplies are expected to be down around 7%.

This is due to the extra 150,000 cattle in Ireland last year, along with small increased production in Britain. This had a depressing effect on prices in the second half of 2014. Mainland Europe has been a difficult market for some time and these figures suggest that is unlikely to change in the near future.

"Looking towards 2016, preliminary forecasts show beef output in the EU-15 region is expected to show little change," said Eoin Kelly, Business Analyst, Bord Bia-Irish Food Board.

"Production is likely to stabilise in France and Spain, with further growth in production anticipated in Denmark and in Italy. However, forecasts suggest some decline in Germany and Portugal."

Beef consumption is expected to remain constant.

"Consumption levels in 2015 are expected to stand at around 6.7 million tonnes. At this stage, little change in consumption is expected in 2016," said Kelly.

The EU exported 559,000 tonnes of beef in 2014, up 23% on the previous year, while imports were down marginally. To date, however, 2015 imports are back by 13% due to a reduction in Brazilian imports.