THE decline in beef sales due to the BSE scare will cost EU producers £2.9 billion a year, the conference was told.
Losses in Ireland would be disproportionately heavy, said Teagasc economist Mr Brendan Riordan.
He later told The Irish Times that the reduction in sales receipts to Irish producers would be around £200 million a year.
Mr Riordan's figures are based on demand remaining at 10 per cent below the 1995 level, indicating a 13 per cent decline in beef prices by the year 2000, relative to pre-BSE projections.
"In the short term some of the trauma of adjustment to rebalance the EU market is likely to be cushioned by intervention buying of beef and increases in direct payments," Mr Riordan said. "In the longer term, however, a re-alignment of production and consumption is virtually mandatory."