Shipments up to nearly 90% of pre BSE tonnage last year Ireland's relatively low key beef promotion campaigns in the UK since the BSE crisis have puzzled competitors, but it is increasingly clear the sales effort has been more successful than exporters' critics in the Republic realise and the potential for growth in the British multiple sector could be astonishing. Tonnage figures just published by Bord Bía, the Irish Food Board, confirm the British supermarkets' claims of rushing to support home producers when the disaster struck in 1996. French multiples suddenly became even more nationalistic in their purchasing policies. However, the Irish exporters have found substitute customers in the UK. Total shipments to this country last year were back up to nearly 90% of the pre-BSE tonnage, despite the much smaller volumes nominally going to the multiples. On the Continent, too, some of the replacement business has proved lucrative. Bord Bía claims it needs to revive the supermarket sales further because "the returns from wholesale or catering are not as good as those available in retail". Multiple promotions in the UK were stepped up last autumn, although they could not be described as dramatic. The board warns of "extremely high" costs for advertising, and establishing a joint industry funding scheme for UK retail promotion has been a slow, contentious process in the Republic. On the other hand, if the Irish have been so successful, so quickly in developing alternative outlets among food service and further processing buyers (although some of the product will still have ended up on supermarket shelves), what happens when they start a serious new assault on the multiple sector? {{MEAT }}

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