24 November 2009

2 minute read

Europe

Scotland’s beef industry earns almost £550 million a year and it must be backed by a properly funded, central organisation, which helps every business involved in the production and processing of beef to move forward and plan a secure long term future, says NBA Scotland.

The NBA are alarmed at the short sighted calls by groups within the sector which seek either to focus a disproportionate amount of Quality Meat Scotland’s shrinking resources on direct marketing – or challenge outright the need for a 90p per head increase in the slaughter cattle levy.

“QMS works hard at making its £3.8 million a year levy income cover a great deal of ground extremely effectively but without an income rise it will soon be forced to cut back on increasingly important activity,” explained Iain Mathers chairman of NBA Scotland.

“For example its contribution to work on identifying essential management cost savings, through the Monitor Farm network, is too important to be neglected because the industry already needs fresh information on how to counter the new demands forced on it by climate change and increasing consumer concern about food safety.

NBA Scotland points out that the Chartered Institute of Marketing has calculated that an average of 7.19 per cent of annual turnover is usually spent by the retail, or manufacturing, sectors exclusively on marketing.

“But QMS raises only the equivalent of 0.75 per cent of beef sector turnover through its levy and still manages to deliver promotional and development miracles on its behalf,” said Mr Mathers.

It is calculated that every £1 spent by QMS on Monitor Farm research helps to deliver £6.50 back to the industry and additional revenue earned on the back of the retail premium on Scottish Beef, which QMS works so efficiently at promoting, total £41 million each year.

“It is naïve to think that a business as important as beef is to Scotland can move forward without giving what is needed to properly fund QMS. Professionally run industries, with multi-million pound turnovers, should not quibble when asked to provide an additional 93p which is the equivalent of 0.5 per cent of the value of a typical Scottish slaughter beast,” Mr Mathers added.

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