Demand for beef in key markets is driving prices as supplies remain tight, Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) livestock chairman Brendan Golden has said.
The most recent Kantar data for supermarket sales of beef in the UK shows spending on beef to be up over 11% year-on-year, with volumes holding firm.
With tighter supplies of cattle in the UK, market prices have risen by 7p per kg in the past week.
EU young bull prices have strengthened and when combined with the UK price in the Bord Bia Prime Export Benchmark Price, a gap of 37c per kg has opened up with our prices, the IFA has said.
Despite Irish price increases over the past few weeks, these increases "are not keeping pace with prices in our key markets and must move further and faster", Brendan Golden said.
"Factories can and must do more on beef price to reflect the reality of the market conditions they are selling into," he said.
The IFA livestock chairman said farmers "should not be misled by negativity from factory agents".
"Beef markets are strong, supplies are tight and there is capacity for further price increases from the market," he added.