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Checks were introduced at Dublin port immediately after the UK departed the single market on 31 December 2020. \ Philip Doyle
The latest CSO figures show that Irish imports from Britain of food and live animals for March 2021 were down at €151m compared with €288m for the same period last year.
When the figures for the first quarter are compared, imports of food and live animals are down from €776m last year to €306m for the first quarter of 2021, less than half.
Exports are also lower for the first quarter in 2021 compared with last year at €648m compared with €871m for the same period in 2020.
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Cattle bred from the dairy herd have a poorer conformation and kill-out percentage in comparison with progeny from the suckler herd.
Over recent years, our national dairy herd has become an increasingly important source of raw material for the Irish beef sector. Last year, dairy-bred progeny accounted for 57% of the cattle processed at meat plants, having risen steadily from 47% in 2010. Dairy beef also dominates across the EU-27, whose overall breeding herd of 31.3m includes 20.5m dairy cows (65%).
There is a wide range with regard to the quality of different calves produced from the dairy herd, which include pure-dairy males and crosses with the traditional beef breeds, as well as larger continental breeds.
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New Zealand sheepmeat price is currently around €4/kg, whereas the Irish price is close to double that.
With Australia’s trade minister reported as being on his way to the UK next week, there are expectations that a trade deal between the two countries is getting close.
The UK is also at an advanced stage of negotiation with New Zealand and the common interest for Irish farmers in these negotiations is access for agricultural produce.
Australia and New Zealand are the top two exporters of sheepmeat in the world, accounting for 70% of global exports between them.
While New Zealand has a 228,000t sheepmeat quota (to the EU when the UK was a member), Australia has a quota for just 19,100t.
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The number of spring lambs appearing in sales or going direct to slaughter in factories has been low up to now with the trade only really starting to get going.
Spring lamb base quotes of €7.40/kg to €7.50/kg for Thursday have increased by 30c/kg to 50c/kg on last week.
The opening quotes of the season last week were in the region of €7/kg. They were offered against a background of factories prioritising hogget throughput and few numbers of spring lambs in the market.
Factories have now upped the ante as they continue to try and fill the void of tight supplies in EU markets and fill Easter spring lamb orders.