Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 17 Dec 2002

Vol. 559 No. 5

Written Answers. - Meat Imports.

David Stanton

Question:

105 Mr. Stanton asked the Taoiseach the amount of fresh and cooked meat imported in 2000, 2001 and 2002 to date; the country of origin; the importer in each case; the type of meat involved in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26669/02]

Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach (Ms Hanafin)

The information requested by the Deputy is presented in the following tables 1 and 2. Table 1 shows meat imports by type. As the commodity classification system does not separately distinguish cooked meats, the data has been presented instead using the three categories fresh and chilled, frozen and processed.

Table 2 shows total meat imports by country of origin. For reasons of confidentiality the CSO cannot supply information relating to the individual importers.

Table 1

Meat imports by type

	2000			2001			Jan-Aug2002*
	€000	Tonnes	€000	Tonnes	€000	Tonnes
Beef
Fresh or chilled beef	7,187	1,801	10,039	3,189	10,341	3,053
Frozen beef	9,569	4,464	18,287	10,282	8,785	4,788
Processed beef	9,869	3,589	11,316	4,311	5,600	1,985
Total beef	26,625	9,854	39,642	17,782	24,726	9,826
Poultry
Fresh or chilled poultry meat	57,722	18,540	75,134	21,162	38,480	12,537
Frozen poultry meat	42,981	16,260	42,571	11,910	26,019	7,183
Processed poultry meat	45,579	10,406	68,177	15,744	44,875	11,030
Total poultry	146,282	45,206	185,882	48,816	109,374	30,750
Pork
Fresh or chilled pork	42,347	14,795	56,377	15,212	41,461	13,359
Frozen pork	25,137	9,425	28,999	11,262	8,244	3,546
Preserved pork	37,164	10,392	56,413	14,633	40,281	11,815
Total pork	104,648	34,612	141,789	41,107	89,986	28,720
Sheep/Lamb
Fresh or chilled lamb	2,895	1,162	3,223	1,104	2,261	789
Frozen lamb	1,899	771	1,942	76	1,573	569
Preserved lamb	234	64	379	115	145	24
Total sheep/lamb	5,028	1,997	5,544	1,980	3,979	1,382

	2000			2001			Jan-Aug2002*
	€000	Tonnes	€000	Tonnes	€000	Tonnes
Other Meat
Other fresh or chilled meat	1,100	224	1,512	253	1,206	158
Other frozen meat	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other preserved meat	15,834	4,976	16,683	5,025	10,422	3,112
Total other meat	16,934	5,200	18,195	5,278	11,628	3,270
Overall Total	299,517	96,869	391,052	114,963	239,693	73,948

*August 2002 is the latest month for which data is currently available.

Table 2

Meat imports by country of origin

	2000			2001			Jan-Aug2002*
	€000	Tonnes	€000	Tonnes	€000	Tonnes
EU
Austria	578	406	64	38	366	109
Belgium	16,708	4,779	15,640	4,416	9,725	3,320
Denmark	17,520	5,246	27,338	7,415	8,303	3,037
Finland	–	–	–	–	248	129
France	20,228	5,707	22,694	7,283	16,569	5,363
Germany	10,934	2,980	22,301	5,759	21,478	6,327
Great Britain	110,214	38,459	139,794	40,047	84,354	24,742
Greece	115	51	–	–	2	3
Italy	5,533	1,759	5,809	2,138	3,161	1,198
Northern Ireland	43,671	16,089	57,202	16,216	30,651	10,329
Luxembourg	–	–	–	–	13	3
Netherlands	60,717	16,822	65,527	17,647	47,460	13,189
Portugal	88	21	9	1	4	1
Sweden	377	103	2	1	67	31
Spain	1,406	387	371	158	249	100
Unknown (Intra-EU)	5	4	6	3	3	1
Total	288,094	92,813	356,757	101,122	222,653	67,882
Non EU
Argentina	308	53	223	78	184	58
Australia	34	8	163	48	156	43
Bangladesh	–	–	4,265	1,403	–	–
Bosnia and Herzegovina	–	–	821	318	5	2
Brazil	6,832	2,554	12,564	4,551	9,554	3,512
Chile	2	1	51	20	140	48
Egypt	–	–	4,981	3,891	–	–
Gabon	–	–	–	–	201	42
Hungary	75	28	144	42	234	85
Indonesia	–	–	300	163	–	–
Israel	211	74	405	117	286	105
Japan	–	–	3,638	997	–	–
Mali	153	46	7	2	–	–
Namibia	–	–	–	–	299	114
New Zealand	1,042	428	837	376	961	422
Saudi Arabia	–	–	533	340	–	–
Thailand	1,079	349	3,788	1,007	3,195	783
Togo	466	72	142	22	–	–
Turkey	–	–	702	198	423	143
USA	269	118	219	53	196	53
Uruguay	606	236	240	115	972	569
Other Non EU	346	89	272	100	234	87
Total	11,423	4,056	34,295	13,841	17,040	6,066
Overall Total	299,517	96,869	391,052	114,963	239,693	73,948

*August 2002 is the latest month for which data is currently available.