The State's live cattle shippers are ready to fill the void which may be created in Arab countries should the UN peace agreement fail and air-strikes on Iraq proceed.
Libya has already threatened to ban imports of live cattle from Australia and New Zealand should they take part in any action against Iraq.
Australia and New Zealand have supplied the Libyan, Egyptian and other Middle Eastern countries with live cattle since the last round of the BSE crisis.
Industry sources said last night that they would expect to benefit from the ban which would be imposed on its rivals should the peace be broken.
Shipments of live cattle from here to non-EU countries have dwindled to a trickle over the past two years, placing additional strain on prices paid to farmers.
But beef prices have risen recently, from around 80p per lb to a sustainable 88-90p per lb yesterday.
The rise has been attributed to increased demand for beef in export markets and a shortage of finished animals for the factories.
Already this year factories have killed 25,000 head of cattle more than in the same period last year, despite the difficulties, especially the ban imposed on Irish beef by some British supermarkets.
Last Friday's decision by the EU Beef Management Committee to allow the sale of intervention beef to Egypt and Russia may cause difficulties for the markets.
The tender will allow the sale of 21,000 tonnes of beef to Egypt and Russia, Ireland's top beef customers for the past two years.
One Dublin company, Dillons Livestock Exporters, has shipped live cattle to Lebanon for the past five months, exporting nearly 2,000 animals a month.
The company has applied for another licence to export a further 1,800 next week, and this is also helping to raise the prices at marts and factories.
Politicians who attended a meeting of drystock farmers in Thurles earlier this week were told by the chairman of the Irish Cattlemen and Stockowners' Association, Mr Albert Thompson, that cattle farmers had lost £600 million in the last six years.