Beef consumption in the European Union has recovered slightly in the past month but fears over mad cow disease continue to restrain sales, the European Commission said today.
Compared with the autumn of last year, when mad cow disease was detected for the first time in Germany and Spain, beef consumption was now down by an average of 18 per cent across the EU, figures distributed at an EU farm ministers' meeting in Luxembourg showed.
That compared with a decrease of 23 per cent in March.
However, the Commission cautioned that the rise in consumption might be temporary because of the Easter holidays.
German beef sales were still down some 40 per cent compared with levels before the latest crisis. Consumption was 30 per cent lower in Italy, 20 per cent down in Spain, France and Portugal, but only two to three per cent lower in Finland and Sweden and flat in Denmark, Ireland and Britain.
EU prices of cattle carcasses had also increased in the past few weeks. The Commission said prices for male animals were now at a quite acceptable level for 71 per cent of young bulls and more than 83 per cent of steers.
But the EU remained unable to export most of its beef, with the crisis over mad cow disease and the latest scare over foot-and-mouth prompting most of the bloc's trading partners to close their borders to EU meat.
According to the Commission's latest figures, the EU had lost some 94 per cent of its beef exports, 73 per cent of its pork exports and 31 per cent of its poultry exports.
The Commission said Russian and Japanese veterinary experts had been inspecting individual member states to assess the possibility of relaxing their embargoes.