NORTHERN IRELAND RED MEAT COMPANIES HELPED TO BOOST SALES IN SPAIN

Eight Northern Ireland beef and lamb processors were given an opportunity to bid for business from many of Spain's leading retailers, including Carrefour and Eroski, during a recent ???meet the buyer' event organised jointly by Invest Northern Ireland and the Livestock and Meat Commission. Pitching for new business in Spain at the event in Invest NI's Belfast headquarters were: ABP, Lurgan; Dunbia, Dungannon; C&J Meats, Armagh; Doherty and Gray, Ballymena; Hewitt Meats, Loughgall; Linden Meats, Dungannon; Omagh Meats, Omagh and WD Meats, Coleraine. The Spanish delegation was the biggest-ever event of its type for the red meat sector in Northern Ireland. The high powered visit by leading Spanish retailers and wholesalers is expected to lead to a significant rise in beef and lamb sales to this important European market. Nineteen buyers from Spain were guests of Invest NI and the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) for three days. The buying trip, organised in association with Food from Britain in Madrid, included senior representatives from Carrefour, one of Europe's biggest retail chains, and Eroski, Spain's third biggest retailer. The group met senior managers of the eight local red meat processing companies for one-to-one discussions. In all, there were around 88 presentations given by local companies to the buyers. The Spanish group also had an opportunity to see how red meat is presented in Northern Ireland at the Tesco store at Knockbreda. The group also visited a beef farm in County Down and heard details of Northern Ireland's highly successful quality assurance scheme. They were briefed about the variety and quality of beef and lamb from Northern Ireland by Ian Murphy, Invest NI's managing director of Clients and Entrepreneurship, and David Rutledge, LMC chief executive. The Spanish visit was the third such ???meet the buyer' exchange organised jointly by Invest NI and LMC as part of their support for local red meat companies to increase sales to European markets. Over the past year, visits by retail and wholesale operations from Italy and Denmark and Scandinavia have been organised jointly by Invest NI and LMC. The Italian exchanges produced new business worth £20 million for Northern Ireland beef and lamb processors. Pic Caption: Eider Viarte Urrutia and Alexia Larrea, Eroski with from left, William Magee, Invest NI Food division and, right, David Rutledge, Livestock and Meat Commission.