Year-end glut of cattle set to put pressure on prices

A glut of cattle at the year end will lead to pressure on prices, it was predicted at a meeting of the Dáil select committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

However, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed, said many live export markets are open including Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Serbia, Algeria and recently Turkey. “We need to be careful not to talk down the price of cattle”, he said.

Mr Creed accepted that open markets do not mean that cattle will move because a whole series of variables needs to fall into place.