September 28, 2011            

Spanish beef consumption down

Irish beef remains popular with the Spanish consumers while consumption of Spanish beef has decreased nearly 8% in the past 12 months.

According to Peter Duggan, of Bord Bia, Spanish retailers have been reducing beef prices to the point where beef steaks have been priced lower than chicken breasts at EUR6.99/kilogramme (US$9.49) in Carrefour last week. Despite the drop in consumption, shipments of Irish beef to market are running at similar volumes to last year, with exports for the first half of this year at just over 7,000 tonnes.

Bord Bia found that Spanish consumers want grass-fed, tender and tasty beef and Ireland has the conditions to supply such a product.