Retail figures show that the average price for beef on shop shelves sat at 557p per kilo at the start of 2010 and has risen steadily to 709p per kg in July of this year. However, the farmers’ share of the retail price has, in the past year, fallen from 62 percent to less than 48 percent.
Under these current circumstances it means that those currently finishing cattle for the market are likely to be struggling to break even.
NFU Beef Chairman, Andy Foot, said: "The key point is that consumers are losing out as well as producers. The retailers are playing a dangerous game. The upshot being that consumers will vote with their feet while farmers will reduce production. All this comes off the back of the Defra Beef Summit in July. So again, government talk the talk but fail to walk the walk."
Our farming colleagues north of the border have also slammed retailers' short-term vision for beef. NFU Scotland's President, Nigel Miller, said:
“It was inevitable that farmgate prices would adjust from the historic highs seen just under a year ago but we have concerns that the price correction is now being exploited by retailers – using lower prices for cattle and higher retail prices to consumers to squeeze more margin out of the market for themselves. This short-term mind-set of major retailers, where immediate profit drives the decision-making process, runs the risk of pushing cattle off Scottish farms and reducing the supply of our iconic grass-fed product.”