United Kingdom-Quality Meat Scotland.

Why Scottish beef farmers should say ’buon appetito’

SCOTTISH consumers may be moving from steaks to ever-increasing quantities of mince, but their Italian counterparts show no indication of forsaking quality foods, according to a recent study by the independent Boston Consulting Group.

The typical Italian is more likely to cut down on buying electrical appliances, cars and clothes rather than make dietary sacrifices.

Almost half of Italians surveyed declared food and drink to be sacrosanct in their home budgets.

This has the potential to be good news for Scottish beef exporters, especially with the favourable rate of exchange between sterling and the euro, according to Margaret Stewart, export manager at Quality Meat Scotland.

She said: "Italians are still willing to pay a premium price for high quality products.

"There is also a trend towards ’typical’ regional and traditional products, and Scotch beef ticks all the boxes for both.

"Our work in Italy has been focused on the independent butcher trade, which is still a retailing powerhouse. More than a third of all beef sales are through butchers, about the same as sold through supermarkets."

Before the worldwide ban of beef exports from UK beef in 1996 as a result of the BSE crisis, Italy was an important outlet for Scotch beef.

During the long hiatus until almost two years ago, several Scottish companies maintained contact with their previous customers throughout Italy. That patience and business acumen is now paying off.

Stewart said: "Scotch beef has always been highly regarded in Italy and although Italians are fiercely proud of their own products, as far as beef is concerned, they must have the largest production deficit in Europe, which makes that country one of our most attractive export markets."

The average consumer in Italy gets through almost 25kg of beef a year, which is some distance ahead of the average EU figure of 20kg and considerably above the Scottish level of 17kg.