Vol. 407 No. 3
18 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline the efforts which are being made by (a) the EC and (b) Ireland to prevent the build-up of stocks of beef and milk products going into intervention; and if he will outline the amount of such produce, originating in Ireland, which is contributing to the problem.
93 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the efforts he is making to promote the sale of Irish beef in countries outside the EC.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 93 together.
Because of a combination of a number of external factors, in particular the impact on Community consumption and third country markets of BSE and of the Gulf crisis, the Irish beef sector has been undergoing a particularly difficult period and has had to rely heavily on intervention support in preventing a major collapse in market prices. A crucial factor in supporting prices has been the availability of safety-net intervention which I negotiated during the last review of the beef regime in 1989. Community intervention stocks of beef as at 28 February 1991 are estimated at 680,000 tonnes of which Ireland accounted for 218,000 tonnes.
Since the onset of market difficulties last year there have been a number of visits at ministerial and official level to third countries to assure international buyers of the quality and wholesomeness of our beef and there has been constant contact at official level with the authorities in these markets. Furthermore representatives from a number of third countries accepted invitations to visit this country to see our control systems at first hand. As a result a number of our export markets have been reopened and I expect further progress will be made in this regard as time goes on.
I should also draw the Deputy's attention to the fact that the CBF grant-in aid has been increased by the Government to £1.5 million, subject to voluntary contributions being forthcoming from the meat processors. I have also secured from EC Structural Funds an additional £2.5 million for CBF payable over a three year period. The total amount available to CBF in 1991 will be £7.2 million compared with £5.05 million in 1990. This will enable a considerably expanded promotional effort to be undertaken by CBF, an effort which will be enhanced by their quality assurance scheme.
CBF are conducting a vigorous marketing campaign in Europe. I have personally taken part in special promotions in Germany, Spain and Italy and I am confident of a positive response from these and other European markets. In so far as disposals of intervention stocks are concerned the Commission has been actively seeking purchasers for intervention beef and a number of export sales have been effected.
A serious downturn has occurred on the world dairy market since late 1989 with commodity products affected in particular. Intervention stocks of butter and skimmed milk powder in the Community now stand at 315,000 tonnes and 346,000 tonnes respectively, of which 94,000 tonnes of butter and 92,000 tonnes of skimmed milk powder are of Irish origin.
In an effort to restore market buoyancy, the Commission increased the disposal aids and the level of export refunds on milk products. The downturn was to a large degree caused by exceptional trading developments in Eastern Europe. The stabilisation of the situation in Eastern Europe should help the markets to recover although there is a continuing underlying problem with the disposal of butter, because of falling demand for that product.
As far as Ireland is concerned, the dairy industry has no other short term option but to avail of the support mechanisms at a time of depressed markets. In the longer term the moves towards rationalisation and restructuring will enable the industry to diversify its product portfolio to reduce its reliance on commodity products.
I have constantly urged producers and the industry generally in both the beef and dairy sectors to avail fully of the advantage of Ireland's image as a producer of wholesome product from a natural and clean environment.
