The biennial Anuga trade fair in Cologne, Germany, showcased products from over 8,000 exhibitors involved at every level of world food supply. Irish producers, led by Bord Bia, were represented across three of the gigantic trade halls, with a significant presence in the meat, dairy and frozen food halls.

While the mood among the exhibitors was positive, there were concerns raised by the beef processors who spoke to the Irish Farmers Journal about the current availability of cattle.

Seamus McMenamin, sector manager, Sheepmeat and Livestock at Bord Bia, said: “There was some tightening of beef supply across the summer, but relative to European supply, Ireland’s has been quite stable.

There is some further tightening in Ireland expected towards the end of the year on the back of a couple of years of lively export trade. However, the medium to longer outlook remains positive for Irish cattle output.”

Among the almost-900 dairy exhibitors, the significant recent volatility in prices was one of the main topics of conversation.

Conor Galvin, CEO of Ornua, said: “We have seen [the price of butter] stabilise in the last week or so – we’d be hopeful that the falls we have seen have corrected the market and that there will be no further corrections.”

Exporters

The Anuga trade show has representatives from companies and countries around the world, and the Irish Farmers Journal took the opportunity to talk to some of them, particularly those who might be on the other side of the trade deals which have proven controversial in Ireland.

Alvaro Pereira, market access manager at INAC, the national meat institute of Uruguay – that country’s Bord Bia – outlined the opportunities he saw for his country from the Mercosur trade deal, while also providing some context on how much beef he sees coming across the Atlantic.

“Right now, the high-quality beef quota is on a first-come, first-served basis. The quota is distributed on a quarterly basis, which means that on the first of January, and the first of April there are containers of beef from all around the world arriving in Europe trying to get a share of the tariff-free allowance,” he said.

“On 1 October last week, there were three containers of meat for every one container of quota available. The proposal under the Mercosur trade deal will take away this unevenness, smoothing the process,” he added.

He also said that the amount of beef which will be allowed tariff-free access to the EU is around 1% of EU demand. “There is no wall of beef coming to Europe.”

Pereira also noted the total traceability among the Uruguayan cattle herd, with animals tracked from birth to slaughter. The country also has already met or exceeded standards under EU deforestation rules. He also said that growth hormones have been banned in Uruguay for sixty years.

Andrew McDonald, chair of the Australia-EU Red Meat Market Access Taskforce, spoke about his hopes for a restart of the trade talks between his country and the EU.

“At the moment there is intent from van der Leyen and from our prime minister Albanese to have a mature discussion about restarting trade deal talks. There’s a lot in the world that has changed since both sides decided to walk away in Osaka two years ago.”

On the access for Australian beef to the European market, McDonald said: “The argument we always had from our point of view is that Australian beef is not there to be cheap, it is there to give variance and to be a different niche product for the market.

“Australia is not there to flood the market, we’re not there to dominate overall. We’re there to give a point of difference and offer a seasonality.”

He also noted the size of Australian beef exports to China, Japan and the US, when compared to current shipments to the EU.

“We’re shipping 44,000 tonnes a month to the USA, and around 3,000 tonnes a year to the EU.

“There’ll be an increase, potentially, in EU shipments, but its not like we’re going to stop supplying the other markets around the world.”

Comment

Trade fairs like Anuga are, more often than not, more about customers and suppliers getting together to renew relationships and get some facetime with each other. This year’s Anuga certainly followed that theme for many of the exhibitors we spoke to.

Whether the stands were small or large, every exhibitor was involved in constant rounds of meetings with clients and contacts.

The trade fair brings together the whole global food industry and while there might not be much actual business done on the days it is running, the investment by the exhibitors of time and money will lead to business in the weeks and months to come.

One exhibitor told us that there was a feeling after the pandemic that maybe the days of the giant trade fair were over as people had got used to doing business over video calls and email. But, they said, nothing could have been further from the truth. All the pandemic did was build up the demand from both suppliers and purchasers to get to meet each other again.

The Irish companies we spoke to told the same story. Much of what happens in business is built on relationships, and those relationships have to be worked on when, even as the crow flies, there could be thousands of miles between supplier and customer locations.

Kerrygold’s performance

We took the opportunity while in Cologne to visit some retail outlets to see how Kerrygold is doing in what is Ornua’s second-largest market.

Ornua has decades of brand-building in Germany and continues to work hard to keep its premium position as a dairy supplier to the country’s shoppers.

In recent years it has widened its offering to include more flavoured and soft cheeses while also retaining the emphasis on the core butter product. In the shops we visited it was obvious that the dairy aisles are a fiercely competitive place. Shops often run price offers and we saw shelves where Kerrygold was priced at €3.99 for a 250g block while the on-offer butter was for sale at €1.49 for a similar sized, if lower-quality, block.

The Ornua representative leading the tour strongly emphasised how much dairy was at the centre of price offers from German supermarkets, but also remained confident of Kerrygold’s market share as the product has done so much down to years to build its brand and to maintain the high quality for which it is famous.