August 27, 2010

UK beef and offals gain entry into Africa

New veterinary protocols have been agreed with nine central and west African nations for the restoration of beef and offals exports from the UK.

The English Beef and Lamb Executive (Eblex) recently revealed the deals to include Benin, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Namibia, Toga, Mauritius and Cameroon.

It more than doubles the number of countries UK-produced beef and offals can now be shipped as processors had previously been restricted to just six non-EU markets.

The push for the veterinary certification with overseas nations has been led by Eblex, which ploughed GBP100,000 (US$155,000) into developing generic protocols in conjunction with the joint industry and government organisation, the UK Export Certification Partnership.

The latest deals are the biggest number achieved since the end of the date-based export scheme in 2006 and the free movement of UK beef  into Europe. Exports had for the previous decade either been banned altogether or severely restricted because of the BSE crisis.

Beef exports are a vital part of helping producers and operators in the UK maximise returns by making alternative markets available where there are demands for certain parts of a carcass, helping carcass balance, or where they can find better prices, Eblex chairman John Cross said.

"For some time we have been working to enable more generic export certificates to be used for certain markets. We took the decision to place greater priority and additional resources into opening new markets for our producers, over and above the trade development activity we already undertake," he added.

Eblex head of trade development Peter Hardwick said, "Some of these new markets are not huge, but they are very important to the beef industry. We have responded to a very real need for a shot in the arm to the domestic beef market and hope this will have a beneficial effect on prices for our producers."

Eblex views all the countries as important destinations for lower-value beef cuts from flanks and forequarters. Several of them also consider offals such as beef heels a particular delicacy.

Hardwick said the work continued to open up more markets for UK-produced beef and sheepmeat. Eblex has devoted a fifth of its marketing budget to the endeavour.