December 11, 2012

Over the past decade milk production in Finland has been decreasing which has affected cow meat supplies and consequently overall beef production.

This is according to Nicolas Ranninger reporting on the Nordic Market for Bord Bia – Irish Food Board.

The production of young bulls (49,000 tonnes in 2011) has also declined while heifer output has remained stable at around 9,230 tonnes. A slight rise in cow meat production between 2009 and 2011 has not been sufficient to match the increasing consumer demand.

Finnish cattle prices have increased strongly since 2011 with a rise of almost 17% evident in cow prices during the first 10 months of 2012. All these developments have resulted in a 30% increase in the volume of Finnish beef imports up to the end of September 2012 to reach around 17,000 tonnes cwe. This compares to imports of 19,000 tonnes cwe for the full year 2012.

Irish beef exports to Finland are small accounting for 762 tonnes in 2011. Finland's largest beef supplier was Sweden with approximately 4,200 tonnes cwe followed by Poland and Germany.

The highly concentrated Finnish retail market with the S group and Kesko retail groups accounting for over 74% of the grocery sales makes Finland an attractive market for exporters.

The key challenge for Irish companies to enter this market appears to be the logistics transport cost with rates of around EUR5,000–6,000 (US$6,500-7,800) for full trailer loads.