Northern Ireland beef exports set to resume next month

Date: 21/05/1998

By Myles Neligan

THE European Commission is set to announce the formal readmission of Northern Irish beef on to EU markets from 10 June, more than two years after it banned all UK beef exports in the wake of the 1996 mad cow crisis.

Officials say that once the Commission formally lifts its ban, beef exports from the province will be allowed to resume within a matter of days. “This is the light at the end of the tunnel which we have been waiting for for two years,” said a spokesman for the Northern Ireland agriculture office.

Ulster farmers cleared the final hurdle to getting the export ban removed last week, when Northern Irish authorities moved to correct faults in meat storage and packing facilities identified by a team of EU inspectors.

But officials in the province warn that farmers will face an uphill struggle to win back their export markets, which accounted for 56&percent; of the Northern Irish beef industry's revenues before the ban came into force. They estimate that it will take a full year for export sales to reach just half their previous level.

The UK government has provided 3 million ecu to fund a promotional campaign designed to restore consumer confidence, and some former buyers of Northern Irish beef in France and the Netherlands have said they will place fresh orders as soon as the ban is definitively lifted.

Meanwhile, the Commission will next month ask EU governments to approve a scheme which would permit the export of UK beef from cattle born after 1 August 1996, the date when feeding meat and bone meal to livestock first became a criminal offence.

If other EU countries support the scheme, it would clear the way for a full resumption of UK beef exports, which consisted mainly of prime meat from young animals prior to the 1996 ban.

Commission officials say that if all goes according to plan, EU veterinary chiefs or agriculture ministers will take a final decision on the 'date-based' scheme in July.

But some warn the plan could be shelved for an indefinite period if member states' reaction is hostile. “It's not certain whether everyone is ready for this proposal just yet. We may have to wait and see how exports from Northern Ireland progress first,” said one.