The Agri-Food Regulator has commenced publishing information on what factories are getting paid for beef.

It is in a format agreed with the Department of Agriculture for the purposes of compliance with EU market transparency regulations and uses a formula to create a beef hindquarter and a beef forequarter price, plus a 500g mince pack value.

Four companies, ABP, Dawn, Liffey Meats and Kepak, submit their individual values for these three categories on a weekly basis.

The Agri-Food Regulator has been given access to this data and it will combine the individual company’s data to produce a single industry average for beef hindquarter, beef forequarter and 500g mince pack and publish this information weekly.

This week, the regulator published the data for the first three weeks in November, which show the beef hindquarter value at €7.13/kg, beef forequarter at €4.89/kg and a 500g mince pack at €8.67/kg.

These values are not specific cuts of beef that are recognised by farmers or consumers, but a composite value that reflects the yields and values of individual cuts in the hindquarter and forequarter of the beef carcase.

By way of an example, for the hindquarter, the highest-valued steak cuts are blended with the roasts and low-value flank and trims to create an average overall value.

The Irish Farmers Journal pointed out to Niamh Lenehan, Agri-Food Regulator CEO, that the prices for hindquarter and forequarter don’t relate to products that are familiar to farmers or consumers.

She said that “this is a first step” and they would want to get to the point where there is “a list of products that would be indicative along the supply chain”, including retailers.