British outlets buying more Irish beef
Export sales to Britain for 2004 show the market took 264,000 tonnes of Irish beef, a rise of 13,000 tonnes on 2003 levels. Ireland accounts for 60% of the British beef import requirement.
Due to the increasing importance of the British market, Bord Bia has intensified promotional activities.
Survey results for a Bord Bia campaign last Autumn in the major retail outlets including Tesco, Sainsburys, Safeway, Asda and Aldi are encouraging.
More than 80% of survey respondents said they had been encouraged to buy Irish beef by the promotion, and 92% approved of the promotion idea of a recipe calendar, of which almost 490,000 were requested by shoppers.
The calendar included beef recipes, a handy guide to meat cuts, and general information on Irish beef detailing the strong tradition to beef farming in Ireland.
Promotional labels for Irish beef were added to 3.9 million packs of beef during the month-long campaign.
Exports of Irish beef to Britain have shown a steady growth over the last seven years, increasing three-fold from 85,000 tonnes exported in 1998 to 264,000 tonnes in 2004.
The market has shown year-on-year increases with the exception of a slight decline in 2003 which was more than recovered last year.
Bord Bia is placing increasing emphasis on promoting beef in Britain and stressing a higher dependence on British and EU markets for Irish beef as the preferred route for improved returns for Irish producers, who produce for the specific requirements of British and EU markets.
