Bord Bia will spend just over €2.7m on the promotion of Irish beef in our main exports markets in 2014, the Irish Farmers Journal has learned. This is broadly similar to what was spent in 2013.

Bord Bia has raised the ire of beef farmers for the duration of the beef price crisis. Farmers have criticised the food board for not doing enough to promote Irish beef and this perceived lack of activity has been cited as a contributing factor in the beef crisis. The €2.7m figure represents 80% of Bord Bia’s beef marketing spend. In total, the food board will spend €3.5m on the promotion of beef in Europe.

According to Bord Bia, this spend is used for “promotional activities including in-store promotions, tastings, national print and online competitions, in addition to on-pack branding, advertising, PR, digital media campaigns, Chefs Irish Beef Club events and a number of inward buyer visits”.

Main beef markets

Breaking it down, the four main markets in which Bord Bia invests most are Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Britain.

By far the largest promotional spend was in Germany, where Bord Bia has invested €1.03m. Ireland exported just 15,000t of beef to Germany in 2013, which had a value of €90m. Germany is the second largest importer of beef in the EU at approximately 400,000t. While Ireland only exports a relatively small volume of beef, the German market is a very high-value one. Bord Bia expects exports to Germany from Ireland will increase to 30,000t with a value of €150m by next year.

Ireland sent 39,000t of beef to the Netherlands last year. Bord Bia is spending the considerable sum of €880,000 promoting Irish beef in the Netherlands. It has stepped up efforts in the market in recent times and is in the second year of a three-year promotion which is aimed at delivering an increase in the fore quarter market.

Approximately €450,000 was spent on promoting Irish beef in the long-established Italian market. The primary customers in the Italian market are Coop Italia and Carrefour Italia, which are serviced by Kepak and ABP respectively. Italy is the largest importer of Irish beef in the European Union and Ireland sent just over 35,000t last year. Italy is also a crucial live export market with 80% of our weanlings being shipped to Italian feedlots for finishing before ending up on retail shelves.

Bord Bia invested a rather modest sum of €400,000 in promoting Irish beef in Britain, our largest market. Britain accounts for more than half (53%) of our entire carcase beef exports. In 2013, Ireland exported 250,000t of beef to Britain, which had a value €983m. The highest value beef ends up on the retail shelves of Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s, although it accounts for just one third (80,000t) of the volume of beef exported across the Irish Sea.

Bord Bia has certainly grown the presence of Irish beef in retail chains in Europe. In 2001, just 27 retail chains used Irish beef. Today, that stands at over 80.