Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While we must look at every opportunity to add value to our beef production, I am not convinced that targeting large-scale veal production would be the best use of our resources. Irish steer and heifer beef is recognised all over the world for its excellent quality and green credentials and we need to concentrate on leveraging this position even further and increasing the efficiency of our production systems, whether from the suckler or dairy herd. We think we can put production systems in place that will allow us to add value, grow the animals here and produce more beef, but, obviously, that means we will need more markets and competition to ensure a price drop will not ensue, which is what happened last year. To date this year, on average, the price is up by approximately 10% on last year. It is 14% and 15% higher than at the low point last year. Farmers are concerned that once we go above a certain number in terms of production, there is arguably overproduction, which drives prices down. The challenge for me and the industry is to develop new markets, including in the United States, China, Japan, other parts of Europe and North Africa in order that we will have enough competition to ensure we can grow volume, as well as maintain strong value. I am pleased to state that so far this year we are at 107% of the EU 15 price for beef, which means that we are in the premium space. We are getting more money for farmers for Irish beef than most farmers in Europe are getting, which is good news.

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