IFA president Tim Cullinan has led a delegation to meet Meat Industry Ireland (MII) over recent price cuts on beef.

He said the cuts were not justified and pointed out that beef prices in the UK are strong and steady, rising 7p/kg since the start of January, with sterling strengthening, which should mean market conditions are favourable for Irish meat factories.

Cullinan said the IFA left MII in no doubt that the undermining of beef prices by factories was not acceptable.

Farmer frustration

IFA livestock chair Brendan Golden said that farmers were frustrated by factories' attempts to reduce quotes.

He said double standards were also applied by the EU with it came to trade deals.

“Our key EU and UK markets continue to be undermined by imports from countries not meeting our production standards,” he said.

“We must start seeing meaningful action on this front and the first steps must be to reject the Mercosur deal and remove the existing sub-standard imports from the market place.

“In addition, supermarkets have a key role in this and the influence they have been allowed exert in food pricing throughout the EU must be curtailed,” he said.

Fertiliser

On another note, IFA farm business chair Rose Mary McDonagh highlighted variations in fertiliser prices across the country in the month of January following an IFA survey.

Variations ranging from €10/t to €30/t were revealed in the survey.

“While fertiliser prices will differ slightly from region to region, there are still savings to be made from shopping around,” she said.