Vol. 497 No. 7
117 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his views on whether meat factories should be paying a higher price for cattle; and his further views on the additional amount they should be paying based on market returns as assessed by Bord Bia and his Department. [26152/98]
I have made it clear on a number of occasions that I am disappointed with the current level of prices being paid by meat factories for cattle. It seems to me that the meat factories have not fully passed on the benefits of the improved market support arrangements which I negotiated with the Commission earlier in the autumn. In particular, the quantities offered into intervention have been significantly lower than expected and very little of the 9p per pound increase in export refunds has been passed back to producers in the form of higher cattle prices.
Cattle prices on the EU market have remained strong throughout the autumn in spite of the Russian crisis. The fact that the EU market generally has remained strong is due to the fact that beef production in the EU has fallen significantly this year as a result of the calf slaughtering measures adopted in October 1996. Clearly, this fall in production has created market opportunities for Irish beef exporters and it is evident from the quantity of the export licences issued to Irish beef exporters that a significant quantity of Irish steer beef is currently being exported to EU markets. I believe that the higher prices available on these markets should enable meat factories to pay higher prices for cattle but, in the absence of detailed information on the prices being secured by the meat factories on their sales to EU markets, it is not possible for me to state precisely what additional amount should be paid by our meat factories for cattle.
