Reduced numbers of cattle in the system across Britain and Ireland have kept the farmgate trade strong, but the beef trade is facing challenges and needs access to alternative markets, including Russia.

In the UK, prices have been as high as a euro per kilo ahead of Irish prices. It has been a more valuable beef market, with supermarkets anxious to support UK farmers. That has been made possible by an abundance of value-priced Irish beef due to the weak euro. This supply is availed of by Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s to varying degrees, while the discounters use beef of exclusively UK origin.

Limited range

They offer a much more limited range of products and are putting serious pressure on the mainstream supermarkets. In turn, their demand for beef has been lower and promotions – the traditional means for moving volumes – have been virtually nonexistent this year. So more high-value in-spec product has been traded on the open wholesale markets, where the value is reduced to that of non-spec and imported product. French farmer disruption has brought an abrupt halt to the rib and offal trade to Paris.

A further issue overhanging the trade is the serious drop in value of offal, fat and hides. Hides are back €20; fat that was making 80c/kg is now going straight to rendering at under 10c/kg. A typical factory boning 1,000 cattle per week will produce up to 20t of fat, which is worth €17.50 per head less. Livers and hearts, worth between €0.90/kg and €1.30/kg when the trade with Russia was open, are no longer harvested and go into pet food at €0.30-€0.50/kg.