The latest EU short-term outlook report released this week predicts that beef production in the EU will fall by 92,000t or 1.3% in 2021.

EU consumption is also expected to be lower for beef due to COVID-19 disruption in hospitality but exports are predicted to grow, especially to Japan and Canada where trade deals are in place.

Sheepmeat production will be marginally higher, predicted to increase by 688t with the reopening of food service in the second half of the year predicted to have a positive impact on demand. Strong growth is forecast for pigmeat with production expected to increase by 394,000t, or 1.7%, with exports predicted to increase by 5% with China the main market.

Exports are expected to continue growing, again driven by demand from China

The EU predicts that dairy output will recover from a cold spring and increase overall output for the year by 0.8% to 146m tonnes, or 141.6m litres.

EU cheese output is forecast to grow by 86,000t, while butter is forecast to grow by 23,000t with the reopening of the food service sector combined with large numbers of people home working, helping drive demand.

Exports are expected to continue growing, again driven by demand from China.

For Irish beef producers, the news of less production in the EU, combined with herd rebuilding in Australia plus export controls in Argentina, is particularly welcome. Similarly, for sheep farmers, static production in Europe combined with New Zealand focusing on China and a big drop in exports from Britain to the EU of one-third, 6,020t, means strong demand for Irish sheepmeat.