Mr. Joe Burke:

The competitive pressures, which we have touched on there, have been more intense since the latter part of last year. The UK in particular grew its meat exports. Even in the first quarter of this year, exports of lamb from the UK into the EU grew by just over 20% to more than 21,000 tonnes. While that was a higher figure than the previous year, it is just a recovery in comparison with the couple of years post Brexit when they began to keep more of their lamb at home and to import less southern hemisphere product. We are seeing, as we have touched on in the figures, what might be a return to the more trade-focused approach of importing more and exporting more. It is not that we are anywhere near record levels in the UK's exports but we have seen that higher trend for the year to date. That has had an impact on trade and if you look at the prices, for the year to date Irish farmers have got an average price of €6.81 per kilo. That compares with €7.20 for the same period last year, which is a decline of about 6%. We are in a period of higher farm gate costs, which is a challenge and one we are mindful of in our marketing efforts and promotional plans.