Ráðunautafundur - 15.02.2002, Page 228

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RRÐUNRUTflFUNDUR 2002
The European sheep sarket - opportunities and threats
D. Croston
Head of Sheep Strategy, Meat and Livestock Commission, PO Box 44,
Winterhill House, Snowdon Drive, Milton Keynes, MK6 IAX
PROSPECTS FOR LAMB IN THE EU
Table 1. The EU lamb market.
MEAT BALANCES *
Breeding Ewes' Production2 Imports3 Exports4 Consumption’.
Austria 228 7 2 9
Belgium 83 4 32 18 22
Denmark 80 2 6 1 6
EU-15 (e) 68,379 1,142
Finland 50 1 1 2
France 7,306 138 180 22 303
Germany 1,590 iP 59 8 100
Greece 6,344 120 26~ 140_
Ireland 4,014 77 7 58 28
Italy 8,179 48 44 3 91
Luxembourg 6 Joint with Belgium
Netherlands 1,040 25 18 19 27
Portugal 2,294 27 10 0 37
Spain 18,458 257 17 25 240
Sweden 194 4 4 8_
United Kingdom 18,513 388 137 146 391
.. negligible
* Meat balance for each country does not always’s reconcile as ftgure for different years
1 December 2000. Source: SOEC
2 2000 estimate. Source: SOEC
1999. Source: Eurostat
4 1999. Source: Eurostat
*2000 estimate. Source: SOEC, MLC
Net farm income for sheep and goats in EU which was around 20% less than other types of farming in 1997,
varied from country to country and was particularly worse in North European countries. Trading sheep meat
within the EU fell from its peak in 1995 to just over 200,000 tonnes in 1998. The main French market has seen
significant drops in imports which were exaggerated this year with the suspension of exports from the UK to
France as a result of the FMD crisis.
The Important French Market
France is the EU’s largest importer both in terms of live sheep and sheepmeat. About 60% of sheepmeat
consumed is now imported. Sheepmeat imports have increased in the last decade (Table 2) whilst live imports
have fallen a significant amount (Table 3).
Sheep meat
The French sheep industry has been declining over the last 10 years and sheep meat imports have risen to
compensate for the shortfall in domestic supplies.