Continentals crave it
Continentals crave it
CONTINENTAL buyers are desperate for British lamb and will be taking orders as soon as Brussels lifts the ban on exports imposed in the wake of foot-and-mouth.
Visitors to the Meat and Livestock Commission stand at the ANUGA food fair in Cologne, Germany, this week said they were having to pay over the odds for lower quality with Britain out of the market.
Giacinto Fusetti of leading Italian importer Kimeat said he was paying around £3/kg for light lambs at the moment, mostly from Ireland. "The quality is not the same as Welsh hill lamb," he told FW.
He was frustrated that Britain should be banned from exporting lamb when many areas had not had F&M and others had been clear for many months. "If it was France or Germany with F&M, the ban would have been lifted much quicker," he suggested.
MLC international manager Peter Hardwick confirmed lamb was in short supply on the Continent and prices continued to soar, particularly in France.
Persuading Brussels to lift GBs export ban would not be easy. But, so long as the F&M situation did not deteriorate over the winter, he predicted a return to the international market in time for the new season.
But Continental buyers warned there would be some consumer and retailer resistance to British lamb. *