Mr. Philip Carroll:

There are a few factors at play when it comes to the differential. We have seen a significant softening of the UK market. The UK price has come back, and I cannot say off the top of my head what the figures are. The differential has narrowed by a very significant amount - around 80 the last time we looked at it. That is indicative of what is happening in the UK market. We should also note that Ireland, more than any other country, is exposed to the UK market, and that it was the dominating interest in the overall price. The final point to make is that we export 90% of what we produce. When we talk about the domestic market we are really talking about the UK and Europe. We do not think of international trade as domestic. We know how important our real domestic market is, but it represents only 10% of our output. The real market is overseas because that is where we deliver product.

Deputy Martin Kenny mentioned that when volume is up market is down. That is not quite the case. It happens, certainly, and is happening in the context of developments in markets generally. We can have a discussion about where the EU market has been and where it is going over the next period. We carried out an analysis of this for the round table discussions on beef and in more than 50% of incidences where the volume went up the price also increased. That was assessed independently in the context of the round table discussions on beef. To say that when volume goes up price goes down is not accurate. That has not happened in most cases.

The Deputy also asked about the live trade in the context of Brexit. To my knowledge, there has been no discussion about what to do about that. The Deputy said that processors have had discussions. It is true that they have commercial manufacturing outlets in the UK, which is a bonus for them. That is why we are such a strong exporter and have such strong companies. There is no question or suggestion from any processors that I am aware of that the live trade is a possible antidote to a tariff-burdened UK market. That is the case for a variety of reasons.

The issue of four movements was mentioned by many Deputies, as was the 70-day rule and the 30-month rule. We have spoken about all of those. The 30-month rule works against processors and farmers. We did not put that rule in place, but it is demanded by certain buyers of product. Principally, the requirement for the 30-month rule emerged in the aftermath of the BSE scare and goes back to 1996. It is a requirement in international markets in most certificates that are now signed off between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the importing country. The importing country calls the shots on that. It sets down that requirement, which is absolute. It does not help companies in many of those countries because product has to be differentiated and selected out. It is also an issue in European markets and the UK market, and is a requirement of retailers.

It is a requirement for retailers. The 70-day residency rule has a similar effect. Farming organisations were not happy to hear about these rules as they evolved in recent years. The requirement for them was independently assessed by Bord Bia for the beef round table. It checked to establish that those requirements were demanded in the marketplace. In any supermarket nowadays, as one will see on the packs at retail level - not only in beef but in various sectors of the food industry - the demands that are placed on processors, in Ireland and every other European country, are established by retailers and are visible in every supermarket. Pack size, price point and various related issues suit the retailer-consumer dynamic.

The four-residency and the 70-day rules are not absolutes for any farmer who supplies. They are a requirement of customers. For most customers, the product that meets the criteria of 30 months, 70 days and four movements commands the best price in the market because that is what the customer demands. Whether we like it or not, we always say the customer is always right, even when he or she is wrong. That is the requirement in the marketplace we must meet. If we do not, someone else with greater capability will, and we will be shunted out of the market. More than 90% of product delivered into factories meets the four-residency requirement. Farmers have made those decisions even though they do not have to.

Senator Conway-Walsh asked how many owners there were among the 35 plants. I think the figure is 13, four or five of which have more than one site.