Market opportunities for Scottish beef in France

SCOTTISH beef has not been replaced on the French market and former customers, mostly restaurants and independent butchers, are asking when it will return, Remi Fourrier, of British Meat/Meat and Livestock Commission in France told the conference.

This meant in spite of the absence of Scottish beef on the French market since the export ban following the BSE crisis, there remained real market opportunities for Scottish beef, he said.

A further factor was France was the most successful tourist country in the world with some 76 million visitors annually. There was also the influence of the 'Auld Alliance' linking France and Scotland, he said.

An Irish initiative selling

Hereford beef killed at two years of age was proving very successful with French restaurants. The small carcase size of these young Herefords suited high quality French restaurants, which tended to serve smaller portions than British or the United States restaurants, but with a higher degree of preparation, said Mr Fourrier.

However, he also warned the market was for top quality Scottish beef and there remained a great deal of work to be done in rebuilding confidence and in marketing the product to key people in the French restaurant trade.

There were signs the market for British beef was opening up elsewhere with sales of Welsh beef into Italy and the Netherlands, he said.

consumer confidence in the product and to give real value for money.

Conference chairman, Patrick Lambert, who is National Beef Association's Scottish vice-chairman, warned the audience the cost of shipping chilled South American beef to the UK was `negligible' at just 8.5p per kg. This was virtually the same or less than for moving beef within Scotland, he said.