Attempts by factories to pull prices over the last couple of weeks, has brought an angry response from beef farmers.

It is easy to understand why, cattle coming out of sheds at this time of the year carry the greatest cost for farmers and if we are serious about having a steady supply of beef every week of the year for top customers across Europe, the last thing the industry needs is these farmers losing money.

There can only be two explanations for factories dropping prices.Either more cattle are being offered by farmers and processors can get away with it or else it is a very weak beef market.

There has been a steady kill of cattle this year so far and the expectation is that it will tighten with numbers available for slaughter well behind last year. That leaves the market.

While the factory comment seems to always be about how difficult the beef market is, the best way of making an independent judgement is through having a look at what is happening elsewhere with farm gate prices.

Across the markets of our main beef trading partners the picture is not good. In the UK, prices are back over 50c/kg even though they continue to be well ahead of Ireland the gap is now less than half what it was at the start of the year.

One of the reasons offered there is that the weak euro has resulted in the relatively cheap Irish beef displacing local production. Across Europe it is a similar picture of weakening trade. Last autumn, Irish prices were 24c/kg behind France and 27c/kg behind Italy on R3 grading cattle.

These are two of the largest trading partners for the Irish beef industry after the UK. Looking at prices in these countries at the start of May 2015, France is 32c/kg behind Ireland and Italy is 26c/kg behind.

Looking at average cattle prices elsewhere is a crude measurement of the market performance of beef but using the same method every week does at least give an indication of trends. It is clear that there is a very weak beef market in Europe at present in which Ireland has managed to avoid major falls up to recently.

If, as forecast, supply numbers are tight, it is the best chance of prices holding at the farm gate but to have this secured, we need a strengthening of the beef market across Europe.