Welcome recovery in beef trade to UK
The trend was welcomed by the beef industry, after statistics for September had indicated a 13% year-on-year reduction in Irish beef exports to the UK, an ominous indicator of how unfavourable market conditions could turn against the industry.
The latest figures indicate beef shipments from Ireland to the UK jumped 8% year-on-year in October.
According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), “With Irish production rising, it seems that the favourable exchange rate was no longer sufficient to counteract the increased availability of competitively priced Irish product during October.
“Though already the dominant importer, this led Ireland to increase its share of the UK import requirement relative to October 2015, in particular as other suppliers recorded lower shipments.
“As such, Ireland accounted for three quarters of all beef and veal imported into the UK in October.”
Up to the autumn, UK beef imports from all sources in 2016 were running about 5% behind 2015 levels, attributed to increased home-produced supply, and the weaker sterling currency.
But imports of Irish beef in September, fell 13% to 14,356 tonnes, a slump partly attributed to a narrowing price differential — until the October trade brought much better news for Irish exporters.
However, some farmers in the Irish border counties may not share in the beef exports pick-up, because figures for the six weeks ending December 17 confirmed that exports of prime beef cattle to the North have collapsed, with only 479 cattle imported for direct slaughter in Northern Ireland plants, compared to 2,571 in the corresponding period in 2015.
This 80% year-on-year reduction is attributed by the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) for Northern Ireland to a growing preference among the major retail customers for beef that has been born, raised and slaughtered within the UK.
The LMC also said an increase in cattle available in the North appears to have reduced the demand in local plants for cattle from south of the border. They have turned their backs on southern cattle despite the differential in R3 steer prices between Northern Ireland and the Republic widening through 2016, a trend which usually increases the flow of cattle north for slaughter.
The price inched higher in the Republic than in the North briefly in April, but by mid-December, southern cattle were 49.5p/kg (or £173 on a 350kg steer carcase) cheaper than beef cattle in the North.
