The supply of cattle to the meat factories will decline in the second half of the year, bringing more stability to the market, according to Bord Bia's senior business analyst. Mr Padraig Brennan says figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) confirmed what the food board had been expecting.

Cattle over two years - which would go for slaughter before the end of this year - declined by 6 per cent to just more than one million.

There was a 12 per cent decline in male cattle to 701,000, while heifer numbers in the same age category were down 7 per cent to just more than 369,000.

Ireland has put 1,600 tonnes of beef into EU intervention storage since the beginning of August and about 500 tonnes of steer beef has been absorbed under the Special Purchase Scheme.

Beef consumption remains below last year's levels in the main EU markets to which we export, while our main non-EU market, Egypt, remains closed because of BSE. The next review of the ban on beef imports by Egypt from all EU countries is set for October 6th.

This is a key date because purchasing for the remainder of the year takes place in the six or eight weeks after that. Government officials and Bord Bia continue their efforts to have the market opened.

The decline in the number of cattle over two years is offset by increases in cattle of between one and two years and of younger cattle.

Total cattle numbers between one and two years increased by 2 per cent to 1.6 million. These are the cattle that will be slaughtered next year and since the figures show no real rise, there are no fears of a cattle glut in the immediate future.

In spite of an increase of almost 50 per cent in lamb prices, sheep numbers continue to contract. The CSO figures show total breeding numbers were 4 per cent down on 2000 at 4.12 million.

Several farmers are getting out of sheep production altogether.