Strong Irish presence at SIAL show in Paris

The Irish meat industry, along with Ornua and Tirlán from the dairy sector, relocated to Paris over the weekend, for the bi-annual global food and beverages trade show.

They were joined in the meat hall by all other major meat exporting nations and several Irish companies participated on the Origin Green stand organised by Bord Bia, while ABP, Dawn and Traditional Meat Company had their own separate spaces.

SIAL in Paris alternates with ANUGA in Cologne as the premier European food and drink shows, that attract suppliers and buyers from around the world.

Paul Nolan from Dawn Meats told the Irish Farmers Journal that his experience is that while SIAL is an international show, it has a strong French influence.

He also said that nobody now expects to come to these shows and land a major blue chip supermarket customer, but there are still useful enquiries that do develop into business and it remains an important opportunity to meet customers from all over Europe in one place.

When asked about differences this year compared with previous years, Paul highlighted that Brazil’s impressive stand caught his attention, by appearing to have more buyers from China than other stands.

He was also surprised that New Zealand had a lower-key presence than usual and he didn’t notice an Australian stand in the meat hall at all.

The Irish meat companies that participated on the Origin Green stand were Ashbourne Meat Processors, Prumpelstown Estate (Buitelaar Group), Dawn Farms, Dawn Pork and Bacon, Dawn International Ltd, Kepak Group, Liffey Meats, QK Meats Ltd, Rosderra Irish Meats and Wild Irish Game.