THINK of seafood exports from Ireland and France immediately comes to mind.
But, last weekend, some 200 of Germany's top seafood buyers arrived in Dublin to be hosted by Bord Iascaigh Mhara in one of the most significant promotions organised by the board.
The German wholesalers and retailers were targeted because Germany has become a market of considerable importance to Irish seafood producers. In 1986, 166 tonnes of fresh and frozen salmon were exported to Germany; last year, the figure was 618 tonnes. In the same period, frozen mackerel exports went from 2,293 tonnes to 12,292, and frozen fillets from 4,931 to 8,892 tonnes.
Exports of prepared and preserved seafoods went from 107 tonnes to 1,511. Exports of oysters - 40 tonnes in 1986 - more than trebled to 132 tonnes. In all, exports rose to 43,731 tonnes in 1996.
The Germans have a combined purchasing power of more than £20 million and during the five day visit, which ends today, they have been treated to the best that Ireland has to offer.
According to BIM's Patricia Slevin, the coming together of so many influential buyers in one place at the same time allowed the board to do in a week what might otherwise have taken seven years to achieve. The buyers toured the southwest and saw how Irish seafood was harvested and processed.
The idea was the brainchild of BIM's German market adviser, Barbara Byrne, who was instrumental in persuading the Germans to come over. In effect she sold them the notion of holding their annual general meeting in Ireland only the second time they have done so outside Germany. The Germans like the image that Ireland portrays - a clean environment, good quality seafood and unpolluted water. Perhaps the lesson for us is that we must keep it that way.
About four years ago, Deutsche See - the largest fish importers and distributors in Germany - launched a prime Irish salmon campaign, placing heavy emphasis on the Irish tag. BIM participated in this campaign. Farmed fish from Ireland, says Ms Slevin, is also attracting a lot of attention and the Germans market it on the basis that it is produced off the wild Irish Atlantic coast.
Germany is now in the top four of Ireland's growth graph in seafood exports. As a market, she adds, Germany demands the highest quality coupled with the keenest prices.
Last weekend's food fest was staged mainly in west Cork and Kerry, with a reception in the grounds of Bantry House and a gala dinner at the Great Southern Hotel in Killarney. Ms Slevin says that while it was not expected that it would lead to direct sales, it has served to copper fasten relations between Irish exporters and hugely influential German buyers, who could play a major part in the expansion of our native industry beyond recognition.
Ms Byrne has spent several years lobbying the Germans to come to Ireland and, now that they have made the visit, the expectation is that much good will flow from it. As well as Deutsche Sec, representatives of Bierbichlers, the largest wholesaler in Munich, Carl Moll, the largest in the Stuttgart area, Peitzer Edelfisch, the largest in the southern part of the former East Germany, and Hussmann & Haun, the biggest private supplier of fish products in Germany, were among the visitors.
Information packs in German and English were produced by BIM, including company profiles of the Irish exporters and details of the principal export routes between Ireland and Germany. The Irish companies involved in the promotion included Ocean Shells of Co Clare and Bantry Bay Mussels, as well as many others in Co Cork and elsewhere.