THE Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, is in Libya today to meet senior Government ministers in an effort to have the live trade in cattle with Libya resumed.
The trade in live cattle with Libya has ceased since the BSE crisis which began on March 20th. Last year, Libya purchased 79,000 head of cattle and until March had taken 35,000 head. Mr Yates has been attempting to visit Libya since late March but visa and other political problems prevented the visit until now.
While in Libya, Mr Yates is expected to meet the Libyan Ministers for Agriculture and Health as well as senior veterinary officials who have already been in Ireland examining the safeguards which are in place here.
The chairman of the IFA's national livestock committee, Mr Raymond O'Malley, said the resumption of live trade with Libya was critical to putting a competitive floor price for cattle this autumn. "Every animal shipped to Libya this autumn is one animal less for the intervention stores. The Libyan market has the potential to take live cattle worth £105 million each year," he said.
He said the market had the potential to take 50,000 head of cattle before the end of the year if Mr Yates could persuade Libya that Ireland had control measures in place which exceeded the recommendations of the international scientific community and the international health authorities.
As cattle prices continue to fall at factories and marts, there is a growing fear of even lower prices in the autumn when cattle fattened on summer grass are offered for sale.
There is only a limited outlet for Irish cattle and beef because of the crisis, which saw bullock and heifer prices falling last week to 88-90p per lb and cow prices drop to as low as 65p per lb from around 90p per lb before March 20th.
Despite that, cattle throughput at meat plants last week was only slightly lower than in the corresponding week last year, according to Market Moriitor, the official weekly bulletin of the Irish Food Board.
Bullock slaughterings were slightly up on last year at 18,300 head, heifer slaughterings were similar to last year at 5,300 head, but cow throughput dropped by 15 per cent to 5,900 head.
In its mid year livestock review Market Monitor said cattle throughput at export plants was almost 2 per cent down on last year where increased killing of bullocks offset a decline in heifer and cow throughput.
However, live cattle exports for the first six months of the year were down by over 50 per cent on the same period last year and cattle prices have been 10-17 per cent lower than 1995, while both sheep and pig prices were well above earlier levels.
ICOS, the umbrella group for the co operative movement, last night called on the Department of Agriculture to ensure that the £13.3 million available in BSE compensation for beef farmers goes to farmers and not dealers or agents who have not carried the losses.
It wants compensation for the 2,500 livestock finishers who sold a total of 10,000 heifers through livestock marts since March 20th.