Questions raised as slaughter cattle trade to North increases
The National Beef Association (NBA), representing northern cattle farmers, has demanded information on where beef from the southern cattle is sold.
“Mystery surrounds the ultimate retail destination of beef taken from these animals, which are assured to different standards than those installed in Britain, and which do not qualify for the Red Tractor’s Union Jack label,” said the NBA’s Northern Ireland chairman, Oisin Murnion. “The arrival last year of so many Republic of Ireland cattle, the equivalent of 8% of Northern Ireland’s annual prime cattle kill, raises legitimate questions about the destination, and the branding, of both cuts, and mince, taken from so many cattle that have been finished in the ROI, and which have had no chance of meeting the residency terms of NI’s farm assurance,” said Murnion.
Meanwhile Northern Ireland’s Livestock & Meat Commission (LMC) has warned that northern processors may be concerned at an emerging trend of cattle exports on the hoof to the British mainland.
Nearly 1,000 cattle crossed the Irish Sea in January for direct slaughter, attracted by price advantages in Scotland ranging from 15 to 31p per kg. The LMC says this trend comes against the backdrop of increasing imports for direct slaughter from the Republic. In the final quarter of 2009, imports from the south tailed off, but regained momentum in the first four weeks of 2010, going over 700 per week.
In mid-January, price advantages of between 5 and 18p per kg across most of the different grades and classifications were drawing southern cattle north.
In 2009, 36,000 cattle from the south made Northern Ireland a net importer of finished cattle. This was 2.5 times the number of finished cattle imported from the south in 2008. And despite sterling’s recent rally, Oisin Murnion predicts that 40,000 head will go north in 2010.
Exports for direct slaughter to the Republic from the North fell 50% in 2009, compared to 2008, and remain sluggish this year.
