Processors may have to hold prices

CATTLE farmers reacted angrily to lowering of prices by several processors this week.

The factories cut prices by 3 to 6 cents/kg (1p or 2p/lb), after three weeks of increasing cattle supply — and the announcement that the total ban on beef imports from Brazil was being lifted.

Although beef from 106 Brazilian farms allowed to export to the EU will have minimal overall effect on trade, and intake at factories here continues to fall short of 2007 levels, cattle farmers were warned by processors that the combination would affect the trade and, as a consequence, cattle prices were being cut.