ICSA Beef Committee spokesperson Edmund Graham has said that while beef prices may have steadied in recent weeks, they remain nowhere near the level required to keep beef farmers viable. "The narrative that prices are 'holding' is simply not good enough. Farmers are still not being paid a price that reflects the true value of their cattle or the cost of producing them. Standing still at an unsustainable level will not keep any farmer in business," he said.

Referring to this week's announcement by ABP of potential redundancies at its Waterford cutting and deboning plant, Mr Graham said the reasoning being put forward does not stack up. "We are told livestock supplies are tightening and that this is driving restructuring decisions. If supply is tightening, then the price paid to farmers should be strengthening accordingly. That is basic supply and demand. Processors cannot point to reduced numbers on one hand and then refuse to reflect that reality in the price offered to farmers on the other."

He said, "By any fair reading of the market, prices should be moving upwards. Instead, farmers are seeing prices held back while reports persist of imported product being used to service orders. If that is the case, processors need to explain it. Irish farmers cannot be undercut in their own market while being told supplies are scarce. Every time prices are forced down or held back, another farmer asks whether it is worth continuing. If processors continue to resist paying a proper return, they will only accelerate the decline in supply they now claim to be worried about."

Concluding, Mr Graham said transparency from processors is essential. "If imported product is being used to protect processor margins at the expense of Irish farmers, that must be made clear. Farmers are entitled to know what is being brought into the market and why. They are the ones taking all the financial risk in producing beef. They cannot be expected to shoulder that risk while being kept in the dark."