A SUPERMARKET chain cut the price of beef yesterday after butchers responded angrily toe claims by the Irish Farmers, Association (IFA) that the drop in prices for farmers had not been passed on to consumers.
Superquinn chairman Mr Vincent O'Doherty said the cuts of between 7 and 15 per cent, were on certain beef products, including rib steak and round steak. Cuts of forequarter beef are usually cheaper in summer, while hindquarter cuts are dearer.
Our beef prices are, across the board, lower than last year by around 10 to 15 per cent. The beef business has been under pressure since long before there was a BSE crisis.
Mr O'Doherty said beef sales had regained all but 10 per cent of their pre March level, when the BSE scare saw a sudden fall off.
A spokesman for Dunnes Stores said the retail price reflected the consumer demand for premium cuts, while a spokes woman for the Quinnsworth Crazy Prices chain said. "Any reduction we get in the price of beef will be passed on, as it already is, to the consumer. There had been an average drop in beef prices of 11.5 per cent, she said.
One supermarket source said price falls at marts took around three weeks to reach the supermarket shelves. Supermarkets were beginning to see price reductions materialise, at around 7 per cent, while the summer trend of a price increase for premium cuts had not happened.
Mr Noel O'Connor, chairman of the Irish Butchers' Association, said he was still paying £1 a pound for beef at marts. Butchers had responded to the crisis by promoting beef, with special prices for cheaper cuts.
An IFA spokesman said Department of Agriculture figures showed there had been a drop of 15 to 17 per cent in beef prices to farmers since last autumn. Yet the IFA had phoned two outlets in Dublin and got a price of up to, £9.06 a pound for fillet steak.
Mr O'Connor said butchers were wary of offering beef too cheaply as people would feel there was something wrong with it. However, the IFA spokesman said farmers were looking for a reflection of their market prices. "You're talking 90p a pound for a heifer and £9 a pound for steak.
