Vol. 556 No. 5
34 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the level of beef exports to the UK since the beginning of 2002; the way in which this compares with recent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20827/02]
The United Kingdom continues to be our most important market for beef. Some 150,000 tonnes of Irish beef were exported there in the first nine months of this year and it is estimated that this figure will have risen to almost 250,000 tonnes by the end of the year. This compares favourably with exports to the UK in 2001, which totalled some 210,000 tonnes. The corresponding figure was 110,000 tonnes in 2000 and 95,000 tonnes in 1999. The main contributor to the dramatic increase in exports to the UK over the past two years has been the reduced domestic supplies of UK beef due to the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001.
