Shropshire Star

Mid Wales abattoir stops taking in beef

One of the biggest abattoirs in Wales is to stop processing beef.

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FUW President, Glyn Roberts

Randall Parker Foods' abattoir in Llanidloes, Powys says that it is to focus on the lamb business at lease for the time being.

It has revealed that numbers of cows being accepted for slaughter at the plant had dropped from more than 400 to some weeks just 80.

The end of beef processing at Llanidloes has been described as another blow for the industry by the Farmers’ Union of Wales.

Union President Glyn Roberts said: “We completely understand the economic reasons for stopping the beef processing by Randall Parker Foods at the Llanidloes site. However, it is bad news for our farmers.

“We now have to travel further again and it will be more expensive for producers to take the beef to an abattoir further afield. In addition, the levy for the beef going across the border will remain in England, which is a double blow.

“Moving forward, we need to have a closer look at processing facilities here in Wales, to ensure that it works for environmentally conscious consumers, processors and of course producers.”

Randall Parker Foods said the decision was down to falling volumes, negative margins and spiralling costs of production.

However it said that the cattle line could be reinstated should the economics of slaughtering cattle change.