Beef industry urged to agree on action plan
Enterprise Ireland director, Mike Feeney, told the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society annual conference in Limerick the industry is characterised by a "destructive tension" between the two key stakeholders, producers and processors.
He said if a broad degree of consensus cannot be achieved on how to address the challenges of scale, quality and markets the industry now faces, it will decline in the face of the WTO and growing competition in traditional and EU markets from South America, Australia and New Zealand. Ultimately, if the beef industry is to remain competitive it will have to achieve greater penetration in Britain and the EU with the type of beef product the consumer requires, he said.
Mr Feeney said increased plant capacity was pursuing a reducing cattle supply and at the same time revenues were declining and costs increasing.
The foot-and-mouth and BSE crises also had a severe impact on the sector with the renationalisation of EU beef markets, EU food labelling legislation and the closure of many third country markets to Irish beef, he said.
"The industry is at a crossroads and there is a real need for much greater degree of co-operation and consensus as between the different stakeholders than there currently appears to be," Mr Feeney said.
He said there was a critical need for an agreed development strategy to be implemented for the sector. Major investment was necessary, but the State can only do so much, he said. A new initiative has been progressed over the past number of months and "we are confident that it can lead to a new stimulus for the sector," Mr Feeney said.
Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh said he was concerned the recent dispute between suppliers and factories could have given rise to a situation where the sector as a whole might suffer as a result of interruption of meat supplies to the country's main markets.
"Thankfully, this has been avoided and I very much welcome the decision to suspend the dispute. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the situation, any sector that is subject to ongoing disputes between producers and processors needs to seriously re-examine itself," Mr Walsh said. He added that trust between the partners in the beef sector must be a key ingredient in the development of the industry in future years and where this is absent, it must be restored.
The industry as a whole should work to ensure that no further risks are taken with valuable markets by interrupting supplies, and that markets which have been re-opened to Ireland are not simply left to be supplied by our competitors, he said.
