Inevitably, pork and lamb are seen as the immediate beneficiaries of the BSE scare, but in the medium to long term the commission sees the beef market recovering.
“Prime cattle slaughter for human consumption is expected to be around 9% lower for 1996. This, and the exclusion of cull animals over 30 months of age, will result in a marked fall in production.
“Fewer prime cattle are expected to be excluded from the food chain in 1997 so that slaughterings should rise again by 10%. However, the overall impact on production will be small.”
An expected modest increase will be the result of younger and lighter cattle being slaughtered, although many producers who paid relatively high prices for store cattle last autumn will be holding on to them to higher weights.