Identifying beef as Irish in British supermarkets is now a major selling point in what has become Ireland's most important beef export market, the Irish Food Board has said. From a position a decade ago where Irish beef had to be practically sold under the counter in Britain, Bord Bia has now made its Irish identity central to its sales strategy.
Research from the British market published earlier this week by the board showed that in the last five years beef exports there have risen from 85,000 tonnes in 1998 to 264,000 tonnes last year.
This showed that the steady build-up of identifying beef as Irish has worked and will intensify in the market, which currently accounts for almost 60 per cent of the UK beef import requirement.
Reviewing its promotional activities in the British market, the researchers found that a promotion offering an Irish beef recipe 2005 calendar had generated "huge response" from British consumers.
"In total, 489,020 individual shoppers went the trouble and expense (£1 in stamps) to get this recipe calendar," said a report in Bord Bia's Market Monitor publication.
Irish beef exports to Britain now account for more than 50 per cent of total beef exports from Ireland, which stood at 493,000 tonnes in 2004.