Written answers

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Beef Industry

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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244. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider the establishment of a beef industry regulator in light of the collapse in the past 12 months of beef prices and the continual change in specifications. [35529/14]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My role in relation to the beef sector is to create a policy and support environment that will allow it to flourish in line with normal market principles. As I have stated before, I do no t believe a Beef Regulator is appropriate. As the Deputy will appreciate, questions of price are ultimately matters to be determined between the purchasers and the sellers of cattle. It is neither appropriate nor possible for me or any other Minister for Agriculture in the EU, to intervene directly on these issues. Cattle prices are determined by supply / demand dynamics which are in turn influenced by the seasonality of production, the length of the production lifecycle and market conditions such as retail promotions, consumer confidence, competition with other meats and the overall macroeconomic situation. However, the state, through the Competition Authority already has a well established infrastructure for dealing with allegations of anti competitive practices and I do not consider it appropriate to replicate that structure by establishing a beef regulator. I should also point out that there is an array of information available on the prices paid in Ireland and elsewhere. My Department collates the prices paid for domestic cattle on a weekly basis and reports this data to the European Commission in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1249/2008 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 148/2014. To ensure price transparency, results for Members States are published on the DG Agriculture & Rural Development website. The published weekly data includes market prices for carcases and live animals as well as information on production and herd inventories. This publicly accessible information allows stakeholders to monitor the evolution of the market situation in each Member State.

There is also a wealth of information available to farmers under the Beef Pricewatch section on my Department’s website, including the prices for Steers, Cows, and Heifers across the classification grid, for each DAFM approved factory. I have also committed to making this existing information even more user-friendly and my Department is currently working on developing a Beef pricewatch app which will be released shortly.

As regards the specifications applied at factory level, these are a matter for agreement between producers and processors. What is important, from my perspective, is that these specifications sufficiently remunerate farmers for producing quality animals, provide appropriate production incentives that are reflective of market demands, and are communicated to producers in a clear and timely manner. I will, of course, continue to engage with both farmers and processors to ensure that these specifications are applied in a fair and transparent manner. As the Deputy is aware, I established a Beef Roundtable earlier this year to facilitate such discussions between the parties. One of the key outcomes arising from this Roundtable involves better and more timely communication between processors and producers aimed at transmitting early and clearer market signals which bring about more strategically planned sectoral responses.

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