Soaring exports have butchers worried

The surge in cattle exports has butchers worried. While beef finishers and the factories are steeling themselves for tighter numbers this back-end, butchers are also nervous.

“It’s a real worry what’s happening with the national herd,” said Jack Molloy, president of the Craft Butchers of Ireland.

“A scarcity of finished cattle means the high prices we’re working with at the moment could become the new normal for the next two to three years,” the Waterford butcher pointed out.

“It’s a concern when you realise that many of the cattle that butchers would be looking to buy later this year and next year have already been exported,” Molloy said.

Supply

The cattle supply situation has compounded the existing challenges posed by spiralling beef and lamb prices, and higher labour and electricity costs, the butchers’ leader maintained.

“The farmers are entitled to the higher prices they’re getting at the moment but the increases have implications for our members,” he said.

Bord Bia data shows that the number of cattle and calves exported so far this year has increased 13% compared to 2024 and topped 293,000 animals.

This figure includes almost 28,000 top-class weanlings, most of which are being purchased by Italian and other south European buyers.

The stiffer competition for cattle over the last 18 months has pushed up the cost of meat for retailers and cranked up the commercial pressure on butchers.

With the cost of some striploin steaks now exceeding €27/kg and the price of sirloin steak topping €20/kg – which represent price hikes of 25-30% over the last 12 months – butchers have seen a serious slide in demand for top-quality cuts.

“Sales of primal cuts such as striploin steak, rib-eye, fillet and sirloin steak have all been hit. Steak was always a speciality thing but it is now even more so,” said Molloy.

“It is becoming less affordable for people,” he added.

That is not to say that butchers aren’t still selling steak.

“I’m selling steaks across the counter for €12 or €13,” said well-known Newport, Co Mayo butcher Seán Kelly.

Debate

Kelly maintained that much of the debate around meat inflation has been coloured by talk of €50 steaks in restaurants being more difficult to justify.

“Would a pack of 20 cigarettes leave you have much change out of €20?” Kelly asked. “I don’t smoke but I’m told that you wouldn’t have a lot left. But I can sell a kilo of steak mince and 2.5kg of spuds for less than €20. And that would feed a family of four for a day,” he reckoned.

“Everything has to be taken in context,” Kelly commented.

Ciaran O’Dwyer from Killenaule, Co Tipperary has a similar story to tell.

“I’m selling steaks for €8-10 a piece and they are flying it,” O’Dwyer said.

“We kill our own beef and that helps,” he added.

The Craft Butchers of Ireland believes that a change in planning laws is required to protect the commercial viability of artisan food businesses in small rural towns.

The president of the Craft Butchers of Ireland, Jack Molloy, said small towns across the country are having “their commercial heart torn out” by a planning regime which has facilitated the spread of supermarkets.

“We have members ringing up complaining that supermarkets are now opening in small rural towns,” Molloy pointed out.

“This can be a disaster for butchers, bakers, cake shops and all types of artisan food outlets in these communities,” he said.

“There’s obviously an environmental consideration in planning, but there will also have to be a commercial and social consideration which evaluates the broader implication of allowing supermarkets to open in these small towns,” Molloy (inset) insisted.

While the butchers’ representative refused to single out either intense supermarket competition or the surge in cattle and sheep prices for the closure of butcher shops, he said both had contributed to the more difficult business environment that butchers must now navigate.

“Butcher shops haven’t closed specifically because of high cattle and sheep prices or tougher supermarket competition. But these factors are forcing a decision for many older butchers.

“The business is just becoming more difficult, and fellows are saying to themselves ‘now this is a good time to go’.”

Molloy remains positive, despite the difficulties.

“The feedback we get is that people like to shop in the butchers. Cooking was one of things that people got into during COVID-19 and this has given butchers a new customer base,” he explained.

“The challenge for us is to give value, quality, personal service and a product range that is relevant.”

Killenaule butcher, Ciaran O’Dwyer, agreed.

“Nothing is cheap now; but if it is good quality it will sell,” he said.

Lamb sales have dropped 25-30% in butcher shops over the last 18 months due to the hike in prices, Jack Molloy estimated.

The sharp lift in the cost of lamb cuts over the last year – with the cost of a leg of lamb increasing 20% to around €17.50/kg – had significantly impacted sales, the Craft Butchers of Ireland president reckoned.

Factory quotes for lamb have jumped €1.20-1.40/kg over the last 12 months, moving from €7/kg to €8.20-8.40/kg.

While Molloy said there was good demand for lamb during the traditional Easter period, he said overall sales of lamb in butcher shops have taken a hit because of the lift in prices and competition from cheaper chicken and pork.

“The shift to pre-packed, oven-ready, chicken and pork dishes is something that we’ve had to cater for,” said Molloy. “There are a lot of people who love lamb and will always buy it, but it is seen as a meat for occasions rather than for the everyday,” another butcher reckoned.

“But they obviously haven’t had a good lamb salad or lamb curry recently,” he added.