ICSA Beef chair Edmund Graham has said talks of further cuts to beef prices are deeply troubling given what farmers are currently paying to produce beef.

"It appears factories remain hell bent on getting prices down - whether market indications show a need for that or not. We listen to their excuses, but they just do not add up to the level of scaling back on price they have already done, and by all accounts, are planning to do," he said.

"It is astonishing that meat processors are still attempting to ignore what it is actually costing our farmers to produce beef. Feedstuffs are almost as dear as they were last year and none of our other input costs have reduced in any meaningful manner. At the same time many beef farmers are trying to adjust to significantly reduced basic payments. Put simply we are operating with higher costs and lower supports, and we already losing €300 per head on stores purchased in the spring. This cannot continue."

Mr Graham urged all farmers to push hard for prices in the coming weeks. "I would encourage all farmers to negotiate hard for prices and to keep voicing their dissatisfaction at what is being offered. The cost of production which Teagasc has put at €6/kg cannot continue to be disregarded."