Vol. 530 No. 5
28 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the efforts being made by him to secure greater market share for beef in the EU market; and the amount of money committed to this task since the recent BSE scare. [4148/01]
The current BSE scare has resulted in a substantial fall in beef consumption in many member states in the European Union, particularly in the bigger member states such as Germany and Italy. The decline in beef consumption has significantly reduced the market for beef generally, with the result that cattle prices have fallen significantly in some of these member states and Irish exporters are meeting severe price competition on the EU market from cheap German beef. In this situation, the focus of the industry and Bord Bia, the State agency responsible for the promotion of beef, has been to retain as many markets as possible rather than in the short-term in order to secure a greater share of the EU market for Irish beef.
My strategy has been to ensure that measures are put in place at EU level to provide greater protection for the consumer and to bring about increased beef consumption by restoring consumer confidence in beef. I am satisfied that the various measures relating to the introduction of rapid BSE testing for over 30 month cattle and the extension of the SRM list are helpful in this regard. I am also making every effort to ensure the appropriate EU support resources are in place and applied across the EU to deal with the surplus of beef on the EU market.
