Supplies of cattle at export meat plants in the first six months of this year were 68,000 below the same period last year.
The plants processed just under 768,000 cattle, with steer disposals falling 16 per cent to 403,000. There was also a decline in the number of young bulls offered to plants, which saw processing fall to 15,000.
Heifer supplies, however, increased, with some 11,000 more animals processed than the corresponding period last year. The 6 per cent rise was due to farmers moving to fatten their animals at a younger age.
An Bord Bia, the food board, said cow throughput was also slightly up at 136,000.
It attributed the rise to increased throughput during the first quarter when the special purchase scheme was in operation.
The board said the main reason behind the lower steer supplies was the strong sales during the end of 2001.
The end of 2000 saw the latest BSE crisis erupt on the Continent when Italy, Germany and Spain began to discover they had more BSE cases in their herds than previously revealed.
The board said that Britain remained the main market for Irish beef and at retail level Irish exports there were performing well. However, the wholesale market remained competitive because British wholesalers have increasingly been sourcing competitively priced South American products, making it difficult for Irish exporters to maintain volumes at reasonable prices.
On the Continent, retail levels remained firm during the first half of the year.
The Italian market, it said, continued to improve in the first six months and there was a particularly good demand for heifers under 12 months.
Russia remains Ireland's main international market for beef and exports there to the end of June stood at 38,000 tonnes, an increase of 90 per cent for the whole of 2001.
The live trade in cattle remained weak during the first six months of the year but at 42,000 was well up on the first six months of 2001. However, in the first half of 2000, 260,000 Irish cattle were exported.