10 MAY 2019

ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham has said that the Competition Authority and the Minister need to explain to farmers why it is that quotes for cattle for the following week are only available from 4pm on a Friday.

We have markets for our beef right around the world and different processors supplying those markets. Why is it that, across the board, quotes for cattle are being given at a uniform time?” he asked.

“Surely, contracts to sell beef to supermarkets are not negotiated at 3pm on a Friday. So why are farmers kept in the dark until 4pm?  Why is it that all factories have exactly the same reluctance to give a straight answer to a straight question?

Mr Graham raised his concerns at Beef Summit held in Ballinasloe yesterday, 9 May.

ENDS