€100m for Irish beef sector ahead of Brexit
Irish beef farmers could be inline to receive an additional €100 million (£88 m) in support payments to help compensate for the drop in beef prices which have been attributed to Brexit.
An additional €50m of aid granted last week by the EU could be matched by a similar amount of state funding from the Irish government.
The award, announced by EU farm commissioner Phil Hogan, has been granted on the basis that Ireland’s economy – and agriculture in particular –is considered to be the most vulnerable among the remaining 27 EU members to the impact of the UK’S decision to leave the trading bloc.
Hogan said that although the details of the UK’S exit were still far from clear, the EU had decided to make a one-off payment in recognition of the long-term slide in prices at the current time due to an “exceptional aid requirement”.
“The Irish beef sector exports over 50 per cent of the total EU requirement of beef to the United Kingdom, so Ireland and Irish beef farmers are more exposed than any other sector in the European Union,” Hogan told Irish national broadcaster RTE.
He said that the details of the package would be finalised in the next two to three weeks, adding that he expected funds to reach farmers “in a couple of months’ time”.
“I’ m very anxious that this money goes directly to the farmers,” said Hogan.
Hogan confirmed that the move opened the doors for the government in the Irish Republic to provide a similar amount of state funding – a move which would bring the package up to the figure of €100m which Irish producers have been demanding after prices began dropping following the UK’ Brexit referendum.
Meanwhile, despite a 5 percent increase in prices in recent weeks, Scottish prime cattle producers still see their prices 5 percent behind those of last year, according to the latest analysis by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
With the exception of February, when the kill was 6 per cent higher than last year, QMS’ economics guru Stuart Ashworth said Scottish abattoirs had handled very similar numbers of cattle to last year over the first quarter – and April marked the first month when UK beef production fell below last year’s levels.
He said the tightening of the pool of prime cattle was likely to continue for the foreseeable future as Scottish calf registrations of the cohort now reaching slaughter age were down on the previous year’s figure – and with 2018 registrations down even further he said that supplies could tighten further.
Commenting on the Irish situation, Ashworth said that the considerable increase in slaughter volumes had contributed to the decline in Irish producer prices.
“So far this year, the Irish have slaughtered 6 per cent more cattle than a year ago with young bull numbers increasing 19 per cent and heifer slaughterings up 11 per cent,” he said