Imports 'threaten NI beef jobs'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7026109.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A new report says that thousands of local beef industry jobs are being threatened by cheaper imports from south America.

Phelim O'Neill from the Red Meat Task Force is calling on supermarkets to pay more for locally produced beef.

He said if they did not, the industry could collapse.

The Ulster Farmers Union's Kenneth Sharkey said without a radical new approach, high quality beef and lamb production in NI would disappear.

"This report confirms beyond any doubt what producers already know, that they are losing enormous sums of money while processors and retailers enjoy a profitable position in the supply chain for local beef and lamb.

"That in itself is a disgraceful situation, but the task now is to find a positive way forward for the industry," Mr Sharkey said.

Mr O'Neill, from the Red Meat Task Force, said: "We now have to go and ask the marketplace 'is the product that we produce here with all the controls and procedures worth more than the imported products, substantially more, so that we can have a viable business?'

Action is needed now if the beef industry is to save itself from immediate extinction Tom Elliot, UUP

"If we can't get that answer then the future for beef production here is very bleak indeed."

Farming Minister Michelle Gildernew said the report came at a critical juncture for the red meat industry.

"We must take stock collectively to consider the recommendations and the way forward."

Ulster Unionist assembly member Tom Elliot said the situation facing the NI beef industry was drastic.

"Action is needed now if the beef industry is to save itself from immediate extinction," he said.