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The level of aid to private storage (APS) announced by the European Commission last week “goes nowhere near what is required to cover the costs associated with freezing, storage, financing and also the collapsed market value of beef cuts, Meat Industry Ireland has said.
There is no flexibility to sell those cuts
The body representing the factories said APS is never a preferred market support measure as it simply stores the problem for a period and the product will have to come back out on the market in three or five months’ time.
“Also, all of the cuts from the hindquarter must go into storage.
It falls well short of the support needed to address the scale of market disruption
“There is no flexibility to sell those cuts that can find an acceptable market price at present and to only store unsaleable cuts.
“A €25m market support measure, even if availed of, for the entire EU beef sector will have negligible impact.
“It falls well short of the support needed to address the scale of market disruption that has been caused by the loss of the food service sector across the EU,” MII said.
Unprecedented
The food service channel accounts for over 30% of overall Irish beef exports and 60% of Ireland’s high value steak sales.
As long as the food service sector remains shut down across the EU, the carcase imbalance will continue
“The scale of carcase imbalance is unprecedented. The elevated level of retail business, which has now stabilised, is concentrated on the staples of mince and diced/burger beef products and goes nowhere near counter-balancing the lost value from the collapse in steak sales.
“As long as the food service sector remains shut down across the EU, the carcase imbalance will continue.
“Based on the general COVID-19 restrictions across the EU, it is difficult to envisage a meaningful reopening of restaurants for quite some time. More significant sector supports will therefore be needed.”
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