The beef industry has reacted strongly to the European Union (EU) decision to cut beef export refunds by a further 11 per cent, which means refunds have been cut by 50 per cent in the past year.

Cormac Healy of Meat Industry Ireland said that the timing of the refund cut was "incomprehensible", coming as it did just one week before important ministerial negotiations on a new world trade agreement.

He said the cuts imposed by the commission were equivalent to 8 cent a kilogramme (3p/lb) on a carcass and what he termed the sustained level of attack on export refunds, had resulted in a reduction equivalent to 46 cent a kilogramme on a carcass.

"Clearly, EU policy is to put an end to EU beef exports while at the same time completely opening our domestic market to be flooded with cheaper beef imports," said Mr Healy.

"With refund levels being reduced to a meaningless level, our export capability is lost, as is our ability to deal with market shocks, in particular, import surges. This more than ever brings into focus the need to block any further giveaways on agricultural market access in the WTO talks," he said.