Cahill: 'Supplies needed to maintain relevance in key markets'
ABP Food Group's managing director for Ireland, Kevin Cahill has said that sufficient numbers of cattle and lambs are needed to maintain the relevance of Irish produce in its key export markets.
Speaking at the Bord Bia Meat Marketing Seminar which took place at the Heritage Hotel in Co. Laois, Cahill emphasised the importance of having sufficient supplies to service the key Irish export markets for beef and lamb.
Commenting on the perception of Irish produce on the global stage, the ABP Ireland managing director said: "We have the credibility internationally because of the work that our farming community does here and the standards that they have set and it's been a long time in the making.
"It's 30 years in getting to where we are and all of the steps that all of the stakeholders have taken to get us where we are.
"That's the reason that we've been able to maintain our presence in a lot of the markets that can afford to pay us the price for beef that we're currently seeing."
Cahill continued by saying that "in order to maintain our relevance in those markets, we need to be able to have the beef and have the lamb to keep going back to those customers. So critically, having the numbers to support our customer base and the demand".
He said that the global population is continuing to rise and with this, the middle-class populations of people in markets for Irish beef and lamb is also continuing to rise.
With this in mind, he said: "I'm optimistic that the demand will be there. I'm less optimistic the supply will be there."
The ABP managing director emphasised "we have got to get that right" and said that it will not be solely down to the meat processors or the farmers but other stakeholders also "in terms of policy makers".
He said: "They need to make sure we're all lined up in terms of where we're going with this because it's not that long ago we didn't have the fair wind that we have got in tech and pharma [sectors], and the national agenda did lean into agriculture as a sector not that long ago to support us through some tough times.
"We're still here, we're still positive but we are concerned that there's not the correct environment or perhaps not the platform that's giving us the chance to jump up from here."
