Minister McConalogue signs new EU market transparency rules into Irish law

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, T.D., today signed a statutory instrument which will give effect in Irish law to additional price reporting obligations which will aim to improve food market price transparency in the EU.

Minister McConalogue said:

“I am pleased to have signed this important Statutory Instrument today. I am committed to bringing Increased market transparency to all elements of the supply chain. I believe increased price reporting be an important tool, along with other initiatives including the Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) legislation and support for Producer Organisations, in strengthening the position of primary producers, who are key to the success of our sector.

“My Department is progressing the drafting of legislation needed to establish the new Office of the Food Ombudsman or equivalent, which will have a specific role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland, as well as enforcing the UTP Directive. I intend that the new Office will build on existing work on market transparency, including the market transparency studies commissioned by my Department as part of the work of the Beef Taskforce, which have been completed and published on gov.ie”

The new changes build on existing price reporting obligations to provide more information on prices at each stage of the food supply chain. This is an important development, as while there is a large amount of information available about farmgate prices, volumes and stocks, and the prices paid by consumers at retail level, there is limited information about prices at other stages of the chain, for example the prices at which processors sell product and the prices at which retailers buy product. The enhanced reporting requirements for Ireland apply to both the meat and dairy sectors.

In advance of the implementation of these new changes at EU level, the Department has provided additional detailed price reporting on the Beef PriceWatch app. Additionally, as part of the work of the Beef TaskForce, Bord Bia developed a beef market price index model which is updated weekly on its website. This index shows the relationship between the Irish beef price and a composite export benchmark price which reflects the relative importance of key markets for Irish beef; an index of wholesale and retail prices; and a by-product market indicator.

The Department recently hosted a webinar with officials from DG Agri who provided an overview of the enhanced EU market observatories and price reporting requirements to stakeholders.

Note to editors:

The data currently collected and reported to the EU by Ireland consists of processor prices paid to farmers for the following products:

• Beef

• Sheepmeat

• Pigmeat

• Poultry (broiler per kg)

• Eggs (average wholesale price for enriched cage eggs)

• Butter

• Skimmed milk

• Cheese

Ireland’s additional reporting requirements under the new EU rules:

Selling Price* Buying Price**

Beef Meat i.e., Forequarters, Hindquarters.

Beef Minced Meat Beef Minced Meat

Poultry Cuts

Eggs

Drinking Milk Butter

Fat Filled Powder

Selling price is that price at which a processor sells on at

**Buying price is that price at which a retailer buys in at

ENDS