Scotland has had a PGI for beef and lamb for 20 years and, in that time, its beef has commanded a significant price premium in the UK market, but with little impact on its lamb price.

However, its beef price premium is also coming under pressure according to Scottish Farmer editor John Sleigh, who was one of the many visitors to the Irish Farmers Journal stand on Wednesday morning.

His first point on the PGI was that, since Brexit, the PGI as it was originally acquired no longer exists as Scotland is no longer part of the EU.

He pointed out that in practical terms, however, this has made no difference as the PGI legislation has basically been copied into UK law, and it is business as usual.

Live exports of lambs

As for the lack of impact on the lamb sector, he highlighted that the route to market is very different for lamb than it is for beef.

“A large number of our lambs don’t qualify for the PGI as many are sold as stores, and anywhere from one third to, at times, as many as two thirds of our lambs are processed in factories in England,” he said.

This means that they don’t meet the slaughter criteria required by the PGI rules.

Returning to the beef premium, while the latest AHDB price comparison data for the different regions of Great Britain show that Scotland is the top at present, that position isn’t as secure as it was a decade ago.

“Whereas in the past the Scotch beef premium was consistently around 20p/kg (23c/kg), there was a long period this year when our price was actually lower than England and Wales before recovering in recent weeks” Sleigh told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Comment

There is no clear answer as to why the premium for Scotch beef is less secure now than it was in the past. The premium end of the UK beef market is very much in the retail sector, which concentrates on the promotion of British beef, supported by Irish in the case or the three largest supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda).

Since Brexit, in the catering beef market, in which Scotch beef is the recognised market leader, competition has intensified, particularly with Australian and New Zealand beef since they secured large tariff-free quotas in a trade deal with the UK.

Whatever the reason, the challenge faced by Scotland in maintaining a premium for its Scotch beef brand, underpinned by the UK equivalent of a PGI, is a reminder of the challenge we face as we try to build a premium for Irish grass-fed beef.