UK’s agriculture board urges EU countries to join forces on global meat market

Remi Fourrier, who heads up the UK’s Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) French office, said countries within the EU should be working together to promote the attributes of their product en masse​.

He said techniques in one market were being adopted in others, and this should be encouraged, as it grew opportunities for all: "The French are now talking about maturation of beef, but three years ago, they weren’t - and that has come from the UK.​

"Everybody is trying to catch the quality market, and European beef should be top quality. It should really push its superior quality, not necessarily in eating terms, but in terms of traceability, integrity and health – all the targets specified in the Eblex quality assurance mark."​

Fourrier was speaking at Paris-based show Sial, following a recent agreement between the European Union, the UK, France and Ireland, for a €7.7 million campaign to encourage more people to cook with lamb across six European countries.

The three countries’ levy boards – Eblex (UK), Bord Bía (Ireland) and Interbev (France) – secured 50% backing for the scheme from the EU and hope it will help arrest a decline in sheep meat consumption and production.

Meanwhile, Fourrier said UK producers were missing an opportunity when it came to exporting cow beef into the French market.

He said that, prior to the BSE ban, the UK exported 50,000t of cow beef to France, but while efforts had been made to rebuild the prime beef market, the cow beef sector had been ignored.

UK cow beef was currently being sold to processors in Ireland and the Netherlands, which were adding value and then exporting onto the French market.

He called for increased investment into the UK cutting plant sector to allow the country to compete with the efficient operations in the Netherlands.