More than half of Ireland's beef exports in the current year will go to high-value European markets, compared with 45 per cent in 1999, the chief executive of An Bord Bia said yesterday.
Beef sales to Europe rose by 14 per cent or 30,000 tonnes last year and Mr Michael Duffy welcomed this, saying the increase, occurring over three years, was hugely important. But the key issue in the British and French markets was whether future exports would go to the retail, wholesale or food sector, he added.
While Britain remained our single most important European market, sales to Italy, Sweden and Holland had improved greatly. Following the publication of An Bord Bia's annual report, Mr Duffy said it was especially heartening to see the leading Dutch retailer, Albert Heijn, again stocking beef from the island of Ireland under the "Greenfields" label; for several years, Heijn had sourced beef only in the Netherlands.
The report says exports of prepared consumer foods from Ireland grew by 9 per cent to £975 million (€1.24 billion) last year, firmly establishing the category as the third main sector in the Irish industry after dairy and beef. About 80 per cent of these sales were to Britain.
Total exports grew by 3 per cent to almost £5.2 billion. Dairy products and ingredients increased by 0.4 per cent to £1.6 billion. Beef increased overall by 1.5 per cent to just more than £1 billion. Exports of beverages grew by 2 per cent to £630,000. Exports of pork and bacon, sheepmeat, fish and fish products were down slightly.
CSO figures show the value of food and drink exports increased by 4.5 per cent from January to March of this year over the same period last year.
