Questions have been raised regarding meat processor trading. This comes on the back of recent increases in the price of beef as the processor prices for meat increased four times in a two-week period.
According to the Irish Beef and Lamb Association (IBLA) they have written to the Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) Enforcement Authority, highlighting concerns regarding the matter. The main focus of the concerns highlighted were mainly in conjunction with the Irish Beef Sector Agreement, which was signed by farming groups and the meat industry in 2019.
The focus of the agreement ensures that the meat industry is committed to providing lairage weighing services and written confirmation of the terms of sale of animals. It’s understood that the IBLA asked the body if it can confirm that processors have put the necessary mechanisms in place to provide these options if requested by primary producers.
IBLA chair, Patrick Rooney says we consider the absence of such processes to be a breach of the Beef Sector Agreement 2019, more specifically Black UTP 4 – ‘A buyer unilaterally changing the terms of an agreement’ – as no agreement has been made to amend this agreement.
Calls for an additional investigation have also come forth querying the availability of written quotes from processors which IBLA says are “the very infrequent exception relative to the number of sales transactions that occur”.
LSL News.