Meat Industry Ireland (MII) has said that it “remain[s] committed” to the Beef Market Taskforce process and welcomed the latest Grant Thornton report.

Although the figure has been disputed by farm organisations, MII said the report confirmed that farmers received 80% of the sales revenue that processors generate from the sale of beef and beef by-products.

MII also said that stronger cattle prices provided a positive backdrop for the meeting, pointing to Department of Agriculture reported prices showing for the last week that R grade prime cattle were at 422c/kg, which marked a five-year high for this stage of the year.

Senior director at MII Cormac Healy said: “Meat Industry Ireland and its members remain committed to constructive engagement in the beef taskforce process and, with completion of the various Grant Thornton independent reports, the taskforce needs to engage on some of the key challenges facing our sector, including climate change commitments, post-Brexit trading environment and EU trade deals.” 

Ombudsman

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that he was pleased that the three market transparency studies commissioned by his Department will be concluded soon.

"Notwithstanding the challenges in relation to availability of data along the supply chain in the required level of detail, these reports will act as an important starting point for driving increased transparency and will provide the foundations for further work on transparency, which will be carried forward by the new office of the National Food Ombudsman to be established later this year.

"That office will have a specific remit in relation to price reporting and analysis," he said.

Some farmers will be disappointed by the news that the ombudsman date has not been finalised, as they were hoping to have the role implemented earlier this year.