The closure of restaurants and fast food outlets has led to an increase in sales for butchers.

Changes have had to be made to work practices in some shops to achieve physical distance between staff members, with an evening shift starting when the shop closes to the public to prepare product for sale the following day.

In the supermarket trade, mince and diced beef are experiencing the biggest demand, whereas the butcher trade has seen demand spread across a wider range of products.

One butcher spoken to by the Irish Farmers Journal ran out of his own-produced sausages by lunchtime on Saturday and there was also concern about maintaining supplies from factories after the walkouts in the North last week.

Steak meat

There is growing concern in the factories about having no buyers for steak meat.

Wholesale values of striploins, and in particular fillets, have plummeted in recent days from what was already a weak market. These are very much a product of the restaurant sector, with limited retail demand outside the BBQ season.