A shortage of beef rather than an increased number of farmers producing cattle to the required specifications will be the main driver behind an expected improvement in beef prices next year, according to Dawn Meats CEO Niall Browne.

Beef farmers have heard for almost a year that their cattle need to be produced to a certain spec to achieve the best prices. However, Browne revealed that the real driver of increased prices is a shortage of supply.

He was speaking at the Agricultural Science Association (ASA) annual conference last week. “Whatever about production, consumption will grow. That will create a supply and demand dynamic, which should lead to higher prices,” Browne said.

“We are at a kill in Ireland of approximately 34,000 head. I think we are going to drift into next spring with a kill of between 26,000 and 30,000 head, so supply will go down. Demand has been poor this year but we expect that it should improve. Then we should have less supply and more demand,” Browne added.

All-Ireland label

Browne was strong in his opposition to the creation of a potential all-Ireland beef label.“I would be totally opposed to that (an all-Ireland label),” Browne said, before going on to explain his reasoning. “It’s simply because the EC number of any Northern Irish plant has got ‘UK’ on it. So, if I go to my customers across Europe, and I say: ‘This is lovely Irish beef but it has a UK stamp on the bag or on the box, then they’re not going to want it. So, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a non-event,” he added.

Browne also said that he had relayed his feelings on the matter to Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

The introduction of an all-Ireland beef label has long been spoken about, with Tesco in Britain believed to have been considering using the label on beef. Hopes had been pinned on the retail giant using an all-Ireland label in the belief that it would stimulate the beef trade and reduce penalties on beef finishers in NI, who bought cattle in the Republic for slaughtering in the North.

Browne agued that Irish beef is represented well in Britain, as well as other European markets.

“There are some British supermarkets which are 100% British, meaning that they don’t buy any other nationality beef whether that’s Irish, French, Italian, whatever, it’s just British.

“There are others of the top five that do buy Irish product. One of the key reasons why British supermarkets like to have Irish in the mix is the volume of beef that we have available. It (the British retail trade) is not closed to Irish beef,” Browne said.