Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 22 Feb 2000

Vol. 514 No. 6

Written Answers. - Beef Imports and Exports.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

111 Mr. Durkan asked the Taoiseach the number of locations to which Irish beef or beef products were exported in each of the past five years; the quantity in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5221/00]

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

116 Mr. Durkan asked the Taoiseach the number of locations from which beef or beef products were imported in each of the past five years; the quantity in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5227/00]

The Taoiseach

I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 and 116 together.

The latest month for which information is available is September 1999. The following tables show the number of locations and the volume of beef imports and exports for the years 1995 to 1998 and the nine month period January to September 1999. The imports table shows the top ten countries form which beef is imported. In the case of exports, the top 17 countries are detailed.

Number of Locations of Imports

	1995	1996	1997	1998	Jan-Sep 1999
Number	20	33	25	23	20

Main Countries of Beef Imports

	1995	1996	1997	1998	Jan-Sep 1999
Country	Tonnes	Tonnes	Tonnes	Tonnes	Tonnes
Great Britain	24,741	11,928	12,911	14,394	11,420
Northern Ireland	18,511	11,279	8,897	8,140	5,441
France	1,496	1,379	1,659	2,206	989
Netherlands	1,355	1,423	1,874	2,183	946
Brazil	72	106	372	347	796
Benelux*	1,425	1,349	1,446	1,027	705
Denmark	417	275	645	404	472
Uruguay	0	47	418	285	180
Germany	459	221	309	366	129
New Zealand	181	276	141	206	121
Other	2,500	2,400	2,155	1,104	765
Total	51,157	30,683	30,827	30,662	21,964

Number of Locations of Exports

	1995	1996	1997	1998	Jan-Sep 1999
Number	94	83	72	72	70

Main Countries of Beef Exports

	1995	1996	1997	1998	Jan-Sep 1999
Country	Tonnes	Tonnes	Tonnes	Tonnes	Tonnes
Great Britain	86,179	85,736	103,218	87,469	85,108
Egypt	29,030	26,604	56,629	81,846	68,294
Russia	105,117	97,738	50,874	38,628	49,881
France	58,627	32,263	25,626	37,863	35,484
Netherlands	17,903	12,231	13,860	21,315	18,183
Italy	15,827	12,096	15,441	21,970	17,830
Northern Ireland	12,509	14,331	22,448	20,839	13,741
Saudi Arabia	27,742	14,245	22,343	24,869	12,945
Algeria	10,216	20,167	7,099	16,628	9,041
Benelux*	1,033	1,277	1,201	5,354	8,247
Sweden	4,068	5,989	6,953	10,879	7,887
Denmark	14,610	9,162	6,894	5,820	7,762
South Africa	10,104	18,417	23,782	7,922	7,721
Spain	3,944	3,518	3,412	6,496	6,105
Philippines	751	217	381	99	5,979
Israel	10,024	8,037	7,919	10,643	4,924
Germany	9,468	4,104	2,700	5,664	4,419
Other	70,625	30,606	24,604	22,273	19,077
Total	487,777	396,378	395,384	426,577	382,628

*As and from January 1999 Belgium and Luxembourg are accounted for separately.

Note: The ‘other' category includes the remaining countries not shown in the tables and unclassified trade.

Overall, approximately 3% of trade is unclassified by country. The unclassified trade consists of intra-EU estimates.