The biggest TV home shopping channel in the US, QVC, is organising a national product search in Ireland, the Irish Trade Board announced yesterday. The channel, which expects to sell £10 million of Irish goods this year, is seeking companies which can help meet the demand from US TV shoppers for quality Irish merchandise.

QVC will be looking for quality merchandise such as giftware, tabletop and household products, occasional furniture, gardening products, distinctive jewellery and novelty items, and health and beauty products. The trade board will advise interested companies on the suitability of their products for TV promotion.

Special exhibitions are to be held in Limerick (on July 13th and 14th) and in Dublin (July 15th, 16th and 17th), at which manufacturers can display their produce to the QVC buyers.

Mr Peter Jackson, of the trade board's consumer division, said the channel was now the world's biggest single purchaser of Irish consumer goods. He said that interested companies should have a track record in servicing substantial overseas orders.

He added that QVC's high visibility had boosted the promotion of Irish consumer goods across America, creating a spin-off in mail order and corporate giftware sectors. Quality and value were "paramount", he said. "This is a tremendous opportunity for Irish companies which can make the grade with QVC to expand their sales to the buoyant US market," he said.

QVC sold more than £6 million worth of Irish consumer goods during its special day-long St Patrick's Day promoting this year. More than 80 per cent of the products, representing 200 Irish manufacturers, were sold out. Companies interested in supplying QVC should contact Mr Jackson at the Irish Trade Board, Merrion Hall, Strand Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4.