Veal meat sees global growth

By Ed Bedington

- Last updated on GMT

There are still barriers to overcome despite growing global trade
There are still barriers to overcome despite growing global trade

Related tags International trade Veal Beef

Demand for veal meat is growing on a global level, but there are still barriers to overcome, delegates to the World Meat Congress (WMC) were told.

"Veal is the baby brother of beef in terms of trade,"​ Frans van Dongen, director of international affairs for COV in the Netherlands, told the WMC Veal Committee meeting in Beijing.

"The international veal trade has been quite limited over the last two decades, with a limited number of export countries."

The trade had suffered as a consequence of the BSE outbreak, with many markets closing their borders to veal. However, despite this, he said the trade outlook was "promising".

"Globalisation, economic growth and the increasing internationalisation of eating habits, along with the elimination of some of those trade barriers are the reasons we are positive."

BSE had a devastating effect on the industry, but he said measures introduced by the sector to tackle the risk, feed bans and specified risk material being removed, had solved the issue and the industry was now working hard to recover its lost trade.

He said they were confident that exports would resume again soon to the Canadian and US markets, while trade was already re-established with markets in the Middle East, Russia and Japan. Work was also continuing to open markets with China, India, Australia and Brazil.

"BSE should be an issue of the past. All countries, especially those that trade in beef, should understand that,"​ he added.

However, Richard Brown, director with market analyst Gira, said the veal trade still faced some serious battles, particularly in its more traditional markets.

"The veal industry is mainly a European business – with major veal producers in France, Italy and the Netherlands – and the European veal market is still in decline."

He said it was a niche and expensive product, which was fighting for shelf space alongside other proteins, a fight with which it was struggling. "Where you have people shopping in smaller stores and in the hard discounters, which have limited lines, it’s a real challenge for those in niche markets to get on the shelf."

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