THE Irish Food Board and the Department of Agriculture will assess this week the impact of a further extension of the Russian ban on beef from counties hardest hit by BSE.
On November 1st Russia which this year will buy beef worth £260 million from the Republic banned imports from Cos Cork Tipperary and Monaghan.
At that stage only 43 cases of BSE had been recorded in the Republic since the beginning of the year, making a total of 158 since 1989.
But since then a further 29 cases have been logged, which may cause Russia to exclude more counties from its beef order. Most vulnerable are Donegal, Cavan, Limerick and Wexford.
Contract negotiations begin in January, and a new protocol, covering a three month period, will be signed by the end of the month. The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, will probably travel to Moscow this month to secure a continuation of the trade. Department sources indicated yesterday that they expected the number of BSE cases to fall.
British scientists believe that calving may trigger the disease in some cows because of the stress associated with birth.
. In Northern Ireland, where there were 1,733 cases up to mid November, the farm organisations report a dramatic decline in new cases. In the week before Christmas, only three were reported, the lowest so far.