Russia blamed for price drop

Marts: As beef producers reacted angrily to the slump in factory prices for cattle — counting their losses — the processors have blamed the downturn on the Russian trade for Irish beef which year to date is down 85% on 2006 sales.

There was no sign of recovery at the factories yesterday, after Monday’s price slump, and the processors insisted that the cold stores are overloaded with stocks.

Meat Industry Ireland claimed the difficulties are attributable to a range of factors including the dramatic fall-off in exports to Russia, higher cow slaughterings in Britain and weakening prices on the Continent.