Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 12 Nov 1997

Vol. 482 No. 6

Written Answers. - Cattle Prices.

Paul Connaughton

Question:

251 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the advice, if any, he has received from his Department regarding the price of finished cattle in pence per pound in spring 1998 in order that winter fatteners can make a reasonable profit, in view of the current price of store cattle. [19137/97]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The price of finished cattle next spring will be determined by the market conditions prevailing at the time. At present, the market prospects for the spring are reasonably favourable because of the continuing recovery in beef consumption in the EU and the decline in production arising from the implementation of the calf slaughtering measures which were adopted by the Agriculture Council in November 1996. Nevertheless, the WTO ceiling on subsidised beef exports will continue to act as a serious constraint on the market. In addition, the European Commission has indicated its intention, from the beginning of 1998, to minimise the use of intervention purchasing as a market support and to commence the disposal of intervention stocks. In view of the many factors involved, it is not possible therefore at this stage to predict with any degree of accuracy the likely price levels six months hence.

Paul Connaughton

Question:

252 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the progress, if any, which has been made by the Competition Authority in its investigation into a cartel by the meat plants on cattle prices; and when the authority will finalise and publish its report on this important issue. [19139/97]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The Competition Authority is a statutory independent body and I understand that it is the policy of that body not to comment on the existence of investigations.

Paul Connaughton

Question:

253 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give details of the carcase classification results, including confirmation and fat score, of animals, steers, heifers, bulls and cows slaughtered at the meat export plants on a quarterly basis for each of the years from 1990 to date in 1997. [19141/97]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The information requested is not readily available on a quarterly basis. However, annual figures are available as per the following tables.

Carcase Classification Results 1990 (%)

Steers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.4
2	0.0	0.1	0.4	0.9	0.2	1.6
3	0.1	6.1	13.7	12.9	0.2	33.0
4L	0.1	7.8	27.8	5.6	0.0	41.3
4H	0.0	3.5	16.5	1.6	0.0	21.6
5	0.0	0.3	1.6	0.2	0.0	2.1
Total	0.2	17.8	60.0	21.3	0.7	100.0

Heifers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.9	1.1
2	0.0	0.2	0.5	1.3	0.9	2.9
3	0.1	2.7	9.3	6.3	0.3	18.7
4L	0.0	5.0	24.6	13.3	0.1	43.0
4H	0.0	2.0	16.2	8.0	0.0	26.2
5	0.0	0.4	5.3	2.4	0.0	8.1
Total	0.1	10.3	55.9	31.5	2.2	100.0

Cows

	E	U	R	O	Pa	Pb	Pc	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	1.4	4.3	3.8	9.6
2	0.0	0.0	0.1	1.5	7.0	4.2	0.4	13.2
3	0.0	0.0	0.5	10.5	9.2	0.6	0.0	20.8
4L	0.0	0.1	2.1	22.6	4.7	0.0	0.0	29.5
4H	0.0	0.1	2.4	14.6	1.0	0.0	0.0	18.1
5	0.0	0.1	2.5	6.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	8.8
Total	0.0	0.3	7.6	55.3	23.5	9.1	4.2	100.0

Carcase Classification Results 1991 (%)

Steers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.4
2	0.0	0.1	0.4	0.8	0.2	1.5
3	0.1	5.3	12.3	13.6	0.2	31.5
4L	0.1	8.7	27.7	5.2	0.0	41.7
4H	0.0	4.3	17.2	1.5	0.0	23.0
5	0.0	0.3	1.4	0.2	0.0	1.9
Total	0.2	18.7	59.0	21.4	0.7	100.0

Heifers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.5	0.7
2	0.0	0.2	0.4	0.8	0.6	2.0
3	0.1	3.5	9.6	5.5	0.3	19.0
4L	0.1	7.4	24.8	11.5	0.0	43.8
4H	0.1	3.2	16.8	6.8	0.0	26.9
5	0.0	0.4	5.1	2.1	0.0	7.6
Total	0.3	14.7	56.7	26.9	1.4	100.0

Cows

	E	U	R	O	Pa	Pb	Pc	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	1.3	4.4	4.5	10.3
2	0.0	0.0	0.1	1.2	6.1	4.1	0.5	12.0
3	0.0	0.0	0.4	9.2	9.3	0.9	0.0	19.8
4L	0.0	0.1	1.9	21.4	5.2	0.1	0.0	28.7
4H	0.0	0.1	2.5	15.2	1.2	0.0	0.0	19.0
5	0.0	0.1	2.8	7.1	0.2	0.0	0.0	10.2
Total	0.0	0.3	7.7	54.2	23.3	9.5	5.0	100.0

Young Bull "A"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.5	8.8	10.2	2.3	21.9
2	0.0	5.7	24.1	15.5	1.3	46.5
3	0.0	4.4	15.9	6.4	0.2	26.8
4L	0.0	1.1	2.7	0.4	–	4.2
4H	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.4
5	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2
Total	0.0	11.7	52.0	32.5	3.8	100.0

Bull "B"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.5	4.9	7.8	5.5	0.7	19.4
2	1.5	11.8	14.1	6.2	0.6	34.2
3	0.6	9.4	9.8	2.9	0.1	22.7
4L	0.8	6.9	4.9	0.7	0.0	13.3
4H	0.3	4.2	2.2	0.1	0.0	6.7
5	0.0	2.8	0.7	0.0	0.0	3.7
Total	3.8	40.0	39.5	15.4	1.3	100.0

Carcase Classification Results 1992 (%)

Steers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.2
2	0.0	0.1	0.2	0.5	0.2	1.0
3	0.1	4.2	8.7	10.8	0.4	24.2
4L	0.1	10.1	27.7	6.2	0.1	44.2
4H	0.0	5.9	20.1	2.1	0.0	28.1
5	0.0	0.4	1.7	0.2	0.0	2.3
Total	0.2	20.7	58.4	19.8	0.9	100.0

Heifers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.5	0.6
2	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.4	0.5	1.3
3	0.1	2.3	8.7	4.3	0.3	15.7
4L	0.0	6.3	28.5	11.5	0.2	46.5
4H	0.0	3.1	18.7	6.7	0.1	28.6
5	0.0	0.5	4.7	2.1	0.0	7.3
Total	0.1	12.3	60.9	25.1	1.6	100.0

Cows

	E	U	R	O	Pa	Pb	Pc	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	3.0	3.4	7.1
2	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.8	4.9	3.7	0.6	10.1
3	0.0	0.0	0.3	7.4	9.5	0.8	0.0	18.0
4L	0.0	0.1	1.7	21.0	7.2	0.2	0.0	30.2
4H	0.0	0.1	2.4	17.0	2.3	0.0	0.0	21.8
5	0.0	0.1	2.9	9.3	0.5	0.0	0.0	12.8
Total	0.0	0.3	7.4	55.5	25.1	7.7	4.0	100.0

Young Bull "A"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.5	4.4	5.6	1.1	11.6
2	0.2	6.1	24.0	13.9	0.3	44.4
3	0.0	6.8	18.0	6.1	0.3	31.2
4L	0.0	4.0	7.3	0.3	0.0	11.6
4H	0.0	0.2	0.5	0.3	0.0	0.9
5	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.3
Total	0.2	17.5	54.5	26.2	1.7	100.0

Bull "B"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.6	6.0	5.7	2.9	0.4	15.6
2	1.3	14.4	10.8	4.8	0.4	31.7
3	0.9	12.0	8.6	2.7	0.2	24.5
4L	0.5	9.2	5.1	0.9	0.0	15.7
4H	0.4	4.3	2.9	0.6	0.0	8.1
5	0.3	2.7	1.4	0.1	0.0	4.4
Total	4.0	48.5	34.6	11.9	1.0	100.0

Carcase Classification Results 1993 (%)

Steers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.2
2	0.0	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.3	1.2
3	0.1	3.3	6.9	7.9	0.7	18.9
4L	0.1	9.3	25.0	12.0	0.5	46.9
4H	0.0	4.9	18.8	5.4	0.1	29.2
5	0.0	0.4	2.4	0.8	0.0	3.6
Total	0.2	18.1	53.4	26.5	1.8	100.0

Heifers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.4
2	0.0	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.5	1.6
3	0.0	1.9	7.1	5.2	0.8	15.0
4L	0.1	5.5	25.1	14.8	0.8	46.3
4H	0.1	2.5	16.4	9.3	0.3	28.6
5	0.0	0.4	4.2	3.4	0.1	8.1
Total	0.2	10.5	53.2	33.2	2.9	100.0

Cows

	E	U	R	O	Pa	Pb	Pc	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	3.3	5.0	8.8
2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	5.1	5.4	1.0	12.0
3	0.0	0.0	0.2	4.3	11.7	1.7	0.1	18.0
4L	0.0	0.1	1.0	15.2	12.0	0.5	0.0	28.8
4H	0.0	0.1	1.3	13.0	5.4	0.1	0.0	19.9
5	0.0	0.1	1.7	9.0	1.7	0.0	0.0	12.5
Total	0.0	0.3	4.2	42.0	36.4	11.0	6.1	100.0

Young Bull "A"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.1	1.2	5.7	5.3	2.0	14.3
2	0.0	7.0	19.1	11.1	2.1	39.4
3	0.0	11.1	15.8	5.8	0.6	33.3
4L	0.0	4.7	5.8	0.7	0.0	11.2
4H	0.0	0.9	0.6	0.2	0.0	1.7
5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Total	0.1	24.9	47.0	23.2	4.7	100.0

Bull "B"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.7	5.7	9.9	4.1	1.4	21.7
2	2.2	15.3	14.7	7.4	0.9	40.4
3	0.6	6.6	6.8	3.1	0.3	17.3
4L	0.5	5.5	4.8	1.2	0.1	12.0
4H	0.2	3.4	1.8	0.3	0.1	5.8
5	0.1	1.7	1.0	0.0	0.1	2.8
Total	4.1	38.1	38.9	16.2	2.7	100.0

Carcase Classification Results 1994 (%)

Steers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.5	0.6
2	0.0	0.2	0.3	0.7	0.6	1.8
3	0.1	2.3	5.7	7.0	1.1	16.2
4L	0.1	7.8	22.2	16.0	0.8	46.9
4H	0.0	4.1	15.1	8.2	0.2	27.6
5	0.0	0.5	3.7	2.7	0.0	6.9
Total	0.2	14.9	47.0	34.7	3.2	100.0

Heifers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.9	1.0
2	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.7	1.2	2.3
3	0.0	1.1	4.8	5.7	1.2	12.8
4L	0.0	4.1	20.6	16.6	1.1	42.4
4H	0.0	2.6	15.2	11.5	0.4	29.7
5	0.0	0.5	5.0	6.1	0.2	11.8
Total	0.0	8.4	45.9	40.7	5.0	100.0

Cows

	E	U	R	O	Pa	Pb	Pc	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	3.6	6.8	11.0
2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	4.5	6.6	1.4	13.0
3	0.0	0.0	0.1	3.4	10.7	2.1	0.1	16.4
4L	0.0	0.1	0.7	12.4	11.8	0.7	0.0	25.7
4H	0.0	0.1	0.7	11.8	5.5	0.2	0.0	18.3
5	0.0	0.1	1.4	11.7	2.4	0.0	0.0	15.6
Total	0.0	0.3	2.9	39.8	35.5	13.2	8.3	100.0

Young Bull "A"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.6	1.4	5.0	5.8	2.0	14.9
2	0.1	6.2	14.0	11.2	1.8	33.3
3	0.1	10.1	14.3	4.8	0.1	29.4
4L	0.0	9.8	9.6	0.8	0.0	20.2
4H	0.0	0.9	1.0	0.2	0.0	2.0
5	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.2
Total	0.8	28.5	43.9	22.8	3.9	100.0

Bull "B"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	1.0	5.7	7.3	4.3	1.5	19.9
2	1.5	14.8	14.4	10.5	1.5	42.7
3	0.7	7.3	8.0	4.2	0.4	20.6
4L	0.4	4.9	4.0	1.2	0.1	10.6
4H	0.0	2.2	1.4	0.2	0.0	3.9
5	0.1	1.4	0.8	0.1	0.0	2.4
Total	3.7	36.4	36.0	20.5	3.4	100.0

Carcase Classification Results 1995 (%)

Steers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.5	0.6
2	0.0	0.2	0.4	0.9	0.7	2.2
3	0.1	1.8	4.5	6.3	1.1	13.8
4L	0.1	6.7	17.9	15.4	1.1	41.2
4H	0.0	5.2	15.5	10.3	0.3	31.3
5	0.0	1.2	5.6	4.0	0.1	10.9
Total	0.2	15.1	43.9	37.0	3.8	100.0

Heifers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.7	0.9
2	0.0	0.1	0.4	0.9	1.1	2.5
3	0.0	1.0	3.9	5.6	1.1	11.6
4L	0.1	3.6	16.3	16.7	1.0	37.7
4H	0.0	2.6	14.9	14.0	0.5	32.0
5	0.0	0.6	6.3	8.2	0.2	15.3
Total	0.1	7.9	41.8	45.6	4.6	100.0

Cows

	E	U	R	O	Pa	Pb	Pc	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	3.9	6.1	10.8
2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	4.9	6.4	1.1	13.0
3	0.0	0.0	0.1	2.7	9.7	2.1	0.2	14.8
4L	0.0	0.1	0.6	9.4	11.3	0.6	0.1	22.1
4H	0.0	0.1	0.9	11.6	6.7	0.2	0.0	19.5
5	0.0	0.1	1.5	15.0	3.1	0.1	0.0	19.8
Total	0.0	0.3	3.1	39.3	36.5	13.3	7.5	100.0

Young Bull "A"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.1	1.1	3.6	4.3	1.3	10.5
2	0.1	7.4	12.5	9.5	0.9	30.3
3	0.1	9.5	17.0	6.6	0.6	33.7
4L	0.0	9.4	11.4	1.5	0.0	22.4
4H	0.0	1.4	1.5	0.1	0.0	2.9
5	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.2
Total	0.4	28.9	46.1	21.9	2.8	100.0

Bull "B"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.7	6.7	7.3	5.5	1.9	22.1
2	1.4	13.4	13.4	9.5	1.2	39.0
3	1.0	7.9	6.8	4.8	0.3	20.8
4L	0.2	4.5	3.9	1.4	0.2	10.2
4H	0.1	2.0	1.7	0.4	0.0	4.1
5	0.0	1.8	1.8	0.1	0.0	3.8
Total	3.3	36.2	34.9	21.6	3.9	100.0

Carcase Classification Results 1996 (%)

Steers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.2	0.3
2	0.0	0.1	0.4	0.8	0.7	2.0
3	0.0	1.5	5.2	7.4	1.8	15.9
4	0.0	10.0	34.5	24.3	1.7	70.5
5	0.0	1.1	6.3	3.8	0.1	11.3
Total	0.0	12.7	46.4	36.4	4.5	100.0

Heifers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.9	1.0
2	0.0	0.1	0.4	0.8	1.0	2.3
3	0.0	0.9	4.7	5.2	1.1	11.9
4	0.0	5.0	34.1	27.3	1.6	68.0
5	0.0	0.6	7.7	8.2	0.2	16.7
Total	0.0	6.6	46.9	41.6	4.8	100.0

Cows

	E	U	R	O	Pc	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	8.3	8.4
2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	11.6	12.2
3	0.0	0.0	0.1	3.0	11.6	14.7
4	0.0	0.2	1.4	21.6	18.0	41.2
5	0.0	0.1	2.2	17.7	3.5	23.5
Total	0.0	0.3	3.7	43.0	53.0	100.0

Young Bull "A"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.1	1.6	2.6	3.1	1.1	8.6
2	0.3	9.2	13.3	10.3	1.7	34.8
3	0.2	12.9	13.7	6.6	0.8	34.2
4L	0.2	9.0	8.1	1.5	0.1	18.8
4H	0.0	2.0	1.0	0.2	0.0	3.2
5	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.5
Total	0.7	34.8	39.0	21.6	3.8	100.0

Bull "B"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.6	6.2	5.6	6.7	1.7	20.9
2	1.3	15.0	10.9	9.8	1.9	39.0
3	0.8	8.5	6.6	5.0	0.8	21.7
4L	0.4	5.2	4.0	1.3	0.4	11.3
4H	0.2	2.1	1.4	0.3	0.0	4.0
5	0.1	1.5	1.4	0.1	0.0	3.1
Total	3.3	38.6	29.9	23.2	5.0	100.0

Carcase Classification Results 1997 (%)

Steers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.2	0.3
2	0.0	0.1	0.5	0.8	0.6	2.0
3	0.0	1.1	4.5	7.7	2.0	15.3
4L	0.0	3.6	13.5	14.9	1.5	33.4
4H	0.0	3.4	17.3	12.0	0.5	33.1
5	0.0	1.2	9.4	5.3	0.1	15.9
Total	0.1	9.3	45.1	40.8	4.7	100.0

Heifers

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.2	0.9	1.1
2	0.0	0.1	0.4	1.0	1.2	2.8
3	0.0	0.9	5.4	4.6	1.1	12.0
4L	0.0	2.4	14.7	9.9	0.9	27.9
4H	0.0	2.8	17.7	12.5	0.6	33.6
5	0.0	0.9	10.0	11.3	0.3	22.5
Total	0.1	7.1	48.3	39.5	5.0	100.0

Cows

	E	U	R	O	Pa	Pb	Pc	Total
1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	1.8	4.6	4.6	11.0
2	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.6	5.4	4.7	0.6	11.4
3	0.0	0.0	0.1	3.1	8.4	0.8	0.0	12.4
4L	0.0	0.0	0.4	8.1	8.2	0.2	0.0	16.9
4H	0.0	0.1	0.9	12.9	6.2	0.0	0.0	20.1
5	0.0	0.2	3.9	21.2	2.9	0.0	0.0	28.2
Total	0.0	0.4	5.4	46.0	32.7	10.4	5.2	100.0

Young Bull "A"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.5	4.0	7.8	8.8	4.1	25.2
2	0.5	20.4	14.0	11.4	1.2	47.5
3	0.0	9.0	8.6	3.8	0.7	22.1
4L	0.0	2.1	1.0	1.2	0.0	4.3
4H	0.0	0.5	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.7
5	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2
Total	1.0	36.1	31.8	25.2	6.0	100.0

Bull "B"

	E	U	R	O	P	Total
1	0.8	9.8	7.8	6.5	1.4	26.2
2	1.6	13.7	9.3	9.8	1.3	35.8
3	0.5	9.8	4.1	3.1	0.3	17.9
4L	0.0	5.2	4.4	1.3	0.0	10.9
4H	0.0	1.0	3.4	0.5	0.0	4.9
5	0.0	2.3	1.8	0.3	0.0	4.4
Total	2.8	42.0	30.8	21.5	2.9	100.0