IFA Livestock chair Brendan Golden has said that the phased reopening of the food service sector in the UK will help to increase demand for Irish beef and that this should equate to higher prices.

The UK is Ireland’s main export market for beef and he said it should create a “significant development” for beef sales.

“The food service sector in the UK is scheduled for full re-opening in May. This will increase demand for beef in the coming weeks and must return meaningful beef price increases,” he said.

He said currently factories were paying €3.90/kg for steers and €4.00/kg for heifers and that there were higher deals for larger or specialist lots.