BSE rears its ugly head yet again to threaten exports
BSE rears its ugly head yet again to threaten exports
With BSE problems topping
the agenda there was a strong
sense of déjà vu at the Irish
Grassland Associations Beef
Conference held in Abbeyleix,
Co Laois last week.
Marianne Curtis reports
AS A country that exports 90% of its beef, Ireland has been hit particularly hard by the recent European BSE crisis.
With the loss of markets both inside and outside Europe, British producers may fear a flood of cheap Irish imports, but this is unlikely to happen, according to Paul Nolan of Dawn Meats.
"The British beef industry did an excellent job in persuading customers to buy British beef following its BSE crisis and consumption is now 3% more than it was before BSE. With Britain now more or less self sufficient in beef it is difficult for us to regain a foothold there."
Despite this, the UK is still a big consumer of Irish beef, taking 110,000t of the 460,000t exported by the country last year. Since BSE, Irish beef exports to France had fallen dramatically, as had those to Egypt, which imported 150,000t of Irish beef last year, said Mr Nolan.
"We are dealing with a huge imbalance in the market: There is a backlog of beef from last year, declining consumption, lack of intervention access and loss of Third Country markets. Egyptians are well aware of the European BSE crisis and the door is now firmly closed on this market."
Although Third Countries were citing BSE as the reason for shunning Irish beef, price may talk in the end, believed Mr Nolan. "Russia is importing German beef for about 50p/kg compared with Irish beef 64p/kg. We must push for export refunds to help re-open these markets."
But merely addressing the crisis was not enough, said independent agricultural consultant Phillip Farrelly. "Our beef industry has been in crisis for a long time. For the past 25 years producers have been getting poorer, processors have grown bigger at the expense of others going broke and investment levels have been low.
"Even retailers are reporting low margins and I think we should believe them."
Mr Farrelly believed the approach to Irish beef marketing should change, moving the responsibility away from processors. "Marketing of beef has totally failed; although we find markets for 2.5m cattle a year, these are not rewarding us sufficiently."
IRISH BEEF CRISIS
• Exports difficult.
• Low margins.
• Calls for new marketing approach.
Countries inside and outside Europe are closing the door on Irish beef, says Paul Nolan.