A MAJOR survey of the Irish beef trade has revealed a 1.6 per cent overall increase in the volume of fresh beef sold in the first two months of this year compared to the same period in 1996.
The survey of 1,500 households carried out for An Bord Bia found that 97.3 per cent of Irish households are buying beef again despite the BSE crisis which rocked the industry.
An Bord Bia's chief executive, Mr Michael Duffy, said the results had come from the latest monthly monitor of retail counter sales of beef conducted for the board by the market research company, Taylor Nelson AGB.
"Those who have continued to buy beef are doing so consistently and in greater quantities. The increase there is 4.5 per cent. Our survey of the catering industry reports strong recovery as well with little variation in the volumes sold at this point compared to the period pre-March 1996."
Mr Duffy said some of the recovery in the beef trade was attributable to the £500,000 special promotion introduced last September by the board to promote home consumption.
The results were very encouraging and provided a solid platform for developing exports. He added that there were also the same signs of recovery in most EU markets, particularly in the last quarter of 1996.
But aggregate EU beef consumption for the calendar year 1996 dropped by 10 per cent and consequently the volume of beef exports from Ireland dropped by 12 per cent.
He said consumption decline varied between member-states with a decline of 18 per cent in the UK, 13 per cent in Germany and 11 per cent in Italy. But in some countries such as Sweden and Denmark, there was an increase in beef consumption in 1996.
Mr Duffy said exports to the United Kingdom recovered strongly towards the end of the year and, although Ireland remained the largest beef supplier to this market, the volume exported declined to about 60 000 tonnes from 100,000.
Mr Duffy said the value of Irish beef exports had fallen by 15 per cent from last year's £950 million but it was encouraging that 90 per cent of beef exported from Ireland last year went to commercial markets.
Of these markets, he said, Russia was the most important. Ireland exported 140,000 tonnes last year, and already this year 35,000 tonnes had been exported there.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and South Africa were the other major markets supplied in 1996, and work was continuing to reopen the live cattle trade between Ireland and Egypt.
Mr Duffy said trade to international markets was expected to account for around 45 per cent of beef output in 1997, similar to 1996. Continuing market access to international markets was crucial to Ireland, and the level of export refunds would determine competitiveness.
Mr Paddy Moore, of the board's beef division, said the disposal of EU intervention stocks when they arose could affect demand for commercial beef in some markets.
The findings of the survey were welcomed by the Irish Farmers' Association, but it said the reality of the BSE situation for farmers was that cattle prices had fallen by 16 per cent or £120 per head, leading to losses of over £100 million.
Mr Raymond O'Malley, chairman of the organisation's livestock committee, said the facts on BSE were that Ireland had lost major export markets in Iran and Russia, and important international live cattle markets to Egypt and Libya, worth £180 million, had been completely shut down.
He added that, despite a 16 per cent reduction in producer price, consumer prices had only come back by 4 per cent to 14 per cent.