Walsh persuades Brussels to extend PFD and keep prices in Republic underpinned British buyers seeking alternative supplies will find Irish beef slightly more expensive than they had hoped thanks to a tactical victory claimed by Irish agriculture minister Joe Walsh following a Brussels squabble over beef price support. But looking further ahead, the outlook is for structural surplus to become visible again as a price weakening influence as supply recovers from the foot and mouth disease disruption. Retailers seeking Irish beef as a substitute for home-produced meat when the foot and mouth disease epidemic shut all plants here realised supplies in the Republic were restricted by the Purchase for Destruction Scheme (PFD), similar to the UK Over Thirty Month Scheme, introduced by Brussels after the BSE scares on the continent triggered a demand collapse across much of the EU late last year. In recent weeks PFD has absorbed about two thirds of the Irish kill, including some steers which although aged over 30 months would have been of supermarket quality, and has underpinned prices for all cattle in the republic. However, buyers had been encouraged by an EC proposal to amend this scheme in response to pressure from several member states. In Germany especially, the destruction of beef cattle not posing a health risk provoked moral objections. Brussels reacted by planning to switch some support to intervention, and to exclude steers from PFD. But the Irish claimed this would hit them hard, as their industry was heavily dependent on steer production and they had suffered severe loss of export business in recent months. After strong lobbying by Walsh, Brussels has backed down temporarily. PFD is being extended, and Irish steers will remain eligible instead of being pushed out into the weaker price support environment of a tender-based intervention system. A statement from Walsh greeted this by acknowledging attention was "naturally and correctly" being focused on foot and mouth disease at the moment, but it was equally necessary to continue effective support for the beef market. {{M/E MEAT }}

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