The fundamental shift in the marketing of Irish beef since the year 2000 was highlighted at the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society conference in Dublin yesterday.
Delegates were told by Mr Michael Duffy, chief executive of Bord Bia, that most Irish beef exports were now being sold into the European Union.
In the year 2000, he said, 50 per cent of Irish beef was being sold into international markets with 26 per cent going to the Continent and the remaining 24 per cent to the British market.
In 2003, 83 per cent of Irish beef exports would be sold into the EU, including the UK which would take 53 per cent of that total, representing a huge growth in the last three years. Only 17 per cent of beef would be sold into international markets.
He told the conference, the first since the historic reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, there were immediate challenges from next year as farmers adjusted to the new system.
He expected herd adjustments in advance of decoupling production from direct payments and said there would be higher disposals of cattle in the final months of the slaughter premium as farmers sought to take advantage of it before it was abolished.
There are threats too from the UK market. Some 70,000 tonnes of Irish exports could be displaced when the UK ends its policy of destroying rather than selling all beef aged over 30 months old.
However, he predicted a price increase for producers over the next few years fuelled by increased consumer demand and a decline in EU production of beef.
There would, however, be increased competition from South African imports.
He urged farmers to respond by developing specialised beef production systems where significant progress has been made in the past two years. More than 200,000 cattle were sold through producer/ processor schemes so far this year.