The Irish Meat Association said last night the industry had been seriously hit by the "Buy British" beef promotion in Britain which the Government believes is contrary to Single Market regulations.
"There is little or no beef going to the British markets now," said Mr John Smith, chief executive of the IMA, adding that Irish meat exporters faced a huge loss of market share.
Last year Britain purchased 95,000 tonnes of Irish beef worth over £180 million, but now this trade worth over £3 million a week has dried up.
"The only beef being killed in Irish factories now is going to non-EU markets which return very little to us. We are in a very difficult situation now," Mr Smith said last night.
"It is very difficult for our members, and we understand that the promotion is to continue until the end of March," he added.
Mr Smith said it was estimated that the British would need to import 200,000 tonnes of beef this year to meet the deficit caused by the compulsory slaughter programme, but it was unclear if the British would source that here.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, has ordered a full review of the marketing strategy in Britain, which will be carried out by Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board.
There were moves yesterday also on the live export trade. Compassion in World Farming, the animal welfare organisation, welcomed the inquiry by the European Commission into Ireland's right to grant-aid a livestock ferry from Cork to Cherbourg in France.
Ms Mary Ann Bartlett, Irish director of the organisation, called on the Government to suspend any further State aid payments to the company running the ferry until the Commission had decided on the validity of such payments.
"It is a disgrace that Irish taxpayers' money is being used to fund live animal exports to continental Europe when we know that this trade is fraught with animal welfare problems," she said.
Ms Bartlett said she was delighted the Commission had decided to investigate the £1 million funding of the livestock service following a formal complaint from her organisation.
The service was set up with Government aid when the Irish Ferries services ended for the winter season and exporters of live cattle could not get on to any of the British-owned ships plying the Irish Sea because of pressure from animal welfare organisations there.
Irish factories have been awarded contracts to place 933 tonnes of beef into EU intervention over the next fortnight, 30 per cent of what they had sought.
Mr Smith confirmed that meat factories had applied to put 3,000 tonnes of beef into EU intervention stores over the next fortnight to try to ease the problems facing the trade.
A report in Bord Bia's Market Monitor said cattle prices at auction markets in Britain had not shown any increase last week.
Demand for Irish beef is still reasonable on the Italian market, and this is also true of the Dutch market where demand has been steady.