Meat processors wait anxiously to see if beef scare will hit jobs here

IT IS too early to say what the impact of the latest BSE scare will be on Irish exports to the UK, or whether any jobs in the beef processing industry are at risk, the Irish Meat Processors' Association has said.

Britain is the single largest export market for Irish beef, accounting for £200 million of the Republic's annual beef exports of £950 million.

But the association said any fall off in sales would be bad for the industry as a whole in the short term.

Up to 10,000 people are employed directly in beef processing in the State. The industry is dominated by four large companies and also includes a number of smaller ones. There are around 30 processing plants in the Republic, according to An Bord Bia.

More people are employed in ancillary businesses such as haulage.

The largest beef processor is Irish Food Processors, the former Goodman International Group, which has a turnover reported to be more than £700 million. Clonee, Co Meath based Kepak is another of the larger processors, along with the quoted food company Avonmore and Dawn Meats, part of the Waterford based Queally group.

As well as seeing their export sales to Britain suffer as a result of the current scare, IFP, Kepak and Dawn may also experience problems at their British beef processing subsidiaries. Kerry Group, which has no meat processing interests in Ireland, has a substantial beef processing business in the south west of England.

The second largest market for Irish beef after Britain is France, which imports around £170 million worth of Irish beef a year. Sales of Irish beef to Italy and the Netherlands are worth £45 million each a year while Germany buys around £25 million of Irish beef annually. Exports to Europe come to £550 million a year, according to An Bord Bia.

Outside Europe, the largest market for Irish beef is the Middle East which imports around £300 million worth of Irish beef a year, while sales to the former Soviet Union are in the region of £100 million. Sales to both these very important markets declined after previous mad cow disease scares and their response to the current scare will be critical in determining the extent of the damage done to the Irish industry.

The Middle East and North Africa are also the major markets for live cattle exports, worth around £250 million a year to Irish exporters.