Bord Bia senior manager, meat and livestock Joe Burke told the audience at the Irish Farmers Journal stand at the Ploughing said relaxed rules about displaying country of origin has driven a downturn in Irish beef exports to the UK this year.
Burke said that while retail customers and quick service restaurants, such as McDonalds, have held up well this year, “the food service sector has been haemorrhaging business”.
He explained that, in the UK, food service businesses are not required to display country of origin details, so they are able to go for cheaper beef sources.
From 80% to 60%
He said that this change has been the major driver behind Ireland’s share of UK beef imports dropping from close to 80% in the first half of 2025 to closer to 60% in recent months.
The UK food-service sector is under huge pressure on margins and has "adopted cheap purchasing policies to meet the price points they require”.
Burke did point out that the loss of some pace in the UK market has been replaced by exports to other European Union countries.
He also expressed optimism about beef prices for the rest of this year, saying that the market across Europe remains tight for supply. Despite the significant increase in retail beef prices since the start of 2025, there has only been a marginal drop in demand, he noted.
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