IFA: Cattle price prospects good

THE prospects for cattle prices in 2008 are positive, according to John Bryan, the outgoing chairman of the Irish Farmers Association’s Livestock Committee.

He told a meeting of 500 farmers in Donegal that much tighter supplies and restrictions on Brazilian imports will drive prices.

In addition, fundamental changes like population growth and consumer demand, higher producer costs and the conversion from beef production to energy crops in South America were driving market returns, he said.