THE dramatic fall in the consumption of Irish beef in Europe is "grim and grave", Mr Yates said yesterday. The Minister for Agriculture was speaking at the end of a tour of key buyers of Irish beef in Spain and Italy.
He has found consumption of beef generally has dropped by half, badly damaging Irish exports. He estimated that a marketing drive costing between £10 land £20 million will have to be launched by the Irish Food Board.
"The situation here is very bad - worse than I thought - and the decline has been driven mainly by a confused local media," he said.
There was no point in underestimating the damage to exports. "Beef consumption here has dropped by 50 per cent."
Mr Yates said a massive information campaign was needed to reassure Ireland's European customers, who normally buy over £500 million worth of processed beef annually, that the Irish product is safe.
"Unfortunately, there is no point in attempting to deliver that message now. But later in the year we must go on a marketing drive which will cost between £10 to £20 million," he said.
Such a drive would have to be a European one, because the job which had to be done to reassure European customers was way beyond our capacity".
"I therefore will be asking for help from the EU, which has £10 million for the promotion of beef. I will be looking for at least £5 million from Europe."
He said that he had asked Bord Bin, the food board, to prepare a proposal for a marketing drive to be funded by Europe, the State, the producers and the farmers.
He envisaged the food board convincing the consumer, the trade and the media that Irish beef is different and distinctive.
"Different Country, Different Class", is the slogan being used in Italy. He envisages it being used all over Europe. The promotion would have diplomatic and Departmental assistance in its work, which was vital to the national economy.
He said the campaign would be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of the EU Farm Council, and would be the main item on the agenda at the EU agriculture ministers informal meeting in Killarney during the Irish press.
Mr Yates said that in Madrid he had spoken to key retailers who import £12 million worth of Irish beef and they were very supportive.
He had also discovered that as a result of the BSE scare and the ban on British products, Kerrygold butter was not being offered for sale. But he had managed to sort that out with the supermarkets.
He said the Italian market, worth £52 million annually, was very important. The need to provide clear and authoritative information on Irish beef was evident.
He produced figures, based on independent research, showing that consumption of beef was down by 50 per cent in Italy, 30 per cent in Spain, 40 per cent in France and 70 per cent in Germany. But South Africa and Kuwait had reopened for Irish beef.
His planned visit to Libya had been postponed to May 15th next. He would ask the Libyans to postpone their tendering date until after his visit.
In a supermarket in Vicenza yesterday morning, Mr Yates talked to potential customers who were being given leaflets on the safety and purity of Irish beef. He also met key buyers for the A&O Unicomm chain, which sells over 14 million worth of Irish annually.