This year, Ireland will export 21,000t of beef worth €120m to Germany, according to new figures released by Bord Bia. This is up from €17m in 2009, when it exported less than 8,000t.

Beef makes up 20% of total food exports to Germany and so far in 2015 exports are up 4% year-on-year.

To help boost exports to Germany by a further 50% and reach 30,000t by 2018, Bord Bia will launch a new three-year promotional campaign starting next year.

Germany represents Ireland’s fourth-largest export market for food and drink, valued at €565m last year.

Fourth largest

The biggest customer for Irish beef in Germany is REAL hypermarket, part of the Metro Group, which is the world’s fourth-largest retailer with an annual turnover of €67bn.

REAL has 300 stores across Germany and is the largest buyer of Irish beef, purchasing 5,000t per annum. This represents almost 25% of the Irish beef exported to Germany.

Patrick Müller, director of food at REAL, said they have strategically chosen Irish beef on a price-to-value ratio. He said it sells at a 20% premium over German beef and accounts for about 10% of the company’s beef sales. He says they wish to increase sales of Irish beef to 6,000t over the next 12 months. Irish suppliers include ABP, Dawn Meats, Kepak, Liffey Meats, Dunbia and Kildare Chilling.

Real stores concentrate on two types of customers and he said the market remains very price sensitive while others are looking for high-quality products like Irish beef.

He added that private label brands and hard discounters, such as Aldi and Lidl, are very powerful in the market. Private label accounts for more than one-third of all consumer spending and this is continuing to grow. There is increased focus on tiered private label ranges and private label extension into niches such as organic, vegan, and vegetarian and ready meals.

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