ICSA Beef chair John Cleary has said that the reintroduction of grid-based beef pricing by processors is a clear attempt to manipulate prices under the cover of a short working week. “Between this week, next week, and the May Bank Holiday, they are clearly trying to flush out numbers. Meanwhile, their agents are out in the marts paying as much as €8.80 to €9.00/kg for finished cattle. That tells you everything you need to know about how strong the market is – and how much room there is to pay farmers properly,” he said.

“This is a calculated attempt to pull prices back in what is clearly a buoyant market. For the past five months or more, factories have been paying flat prices to secure stock from farmers – because of the strong market demand that we know is out there. Now, in a blatant move to rein in prices, they are reverting to the beef grid system in an effort to regain control and suppress what’s being paid to farmers.

There hasn’t been a sign of the grid in the sales ring or in meat factories for the past six months, while processors were scouring the country trying to secure supplies. However, the sudden reintroduction of the grid now lays bare just how selective and self-serving this pricing mechanism is. It is more obvious than ever that the grid is structured solely to serve factory bosses, not primary producers.”

Concluding, Mr Cleary said, “We have had over twenty years of a malfunctioning pricing mechanism that has consistently short-changed farmers. It’s time to change that. Farmers deserve a fair, straightforward system that reflects the real value of beef – not one that allows processors to shift the goalposts whenever it suits them. The time has come for all farmers to stand together and demand a more simplified and transparent pricing system.”

ENDS