Donetsk National University of Economics and Trad
after M. Tugan-Baranovsky, Donetsk
Beef is an important part of people's diets in all European countries and the fundamental product types offered at retail level. Tenderness and taste of a piece of beef varies with its location on the carcass. With regard to the colour of the beef, there is a marked difference in preferences between northern and central Europeans, who prefer relatively dark beef, and southern Europeans, who prefer beef with a lighter colour.
The frequency with which consumers eat he different types of fresh beef differs across countries. Beef steaks are consumed more often in Spain and France than in Germany and the United Kingdom, and the Spanish and French eat them more often than minced beef. In Germany and the United Kingdom minced beef is consumed most frequently. In general, minced beef and beef steaks are eaten more often than cubed beef and beef joints. There seems to be a trend away from roasting joints towards the more versatile and convenient minced beef.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the main regulating mechanism affecting the beef industry in the EU. One of the prime objectives driving CAP regulations is to secure a satisfactory and equitable income for farmers. Market price support systems have met the objective of securing farm incomes very well at a comparably low cost to the European Community's budgets. A system of market protection was established for nearly all farm products based on EC-wide 'target prices', which were substantially higher than world market prices.
The system of market price support included three basic instruments.
1. Import levies, which vary according to import price levels, force external producers to sell inside the EC above a threshold price. These levies safeguard the EC against fluctuations in world market prices.
2. Export refunds, similarly variable according to world market conditions, compensate EC exporters for the difference between the internal Community price (usually somewhat below the threshold price) and the lower world price.
3. Intervention prices are the trigger for the purchase of EC farm products by Community authorities when oversupply pushes Community market prices below predetermined intervention levels. There is a ceiling on intervention buying which can, however, be removed under exceptional circumstances.
There have also been changes in the type of product sold. Minced beef has increased its share of the total beef volume sold, probably as a result of its lower price and its versatility in contemporary dishes. The increasing' popularity of cooking sauces, especially pasta sauces, is believed to be a major reason for the increase in mince's share of beef sales. An explanation of the decreasing popularity of beef joints could be the lack of convenience of large- sized joints, which do not fit into the lifestyles of, in particular, the growing number of one- or two-person households. Since the latest BSE crisis, experts have made recommendations to avoid; minced beef in order to minimize the risk of consumers being exposed to infected beef.
Industry studies show that young people under 16 and older people over 65 tend to consume less beef relative to other foods and that consumers who eat a lot of beef compared to other foods are to be found in the age groups 17 to 34 years and 35 to 64 years. Women tend to consume less beef than men. The consumption of beef tends to increase with income and social class. For example, research in Belgium has distinguished between blue-collar, white-collar, self- employed and non-active consumers, and found that general meat consumption is higher among the self-employed and the non-active population, and that beefs share of meat consumption was significantly lower among white-collar workers than among the other groups. Another demographic trend with a potential for changing consumer preferences is the increasing number of women in paid employment, a development that creates time pressure on families, making them less inclined to buy, for example, beef joints that are time-consuming to prepare. Again, the growth in the number of one- or two-person households, which demand smaller cuts of meat, will also affect the demand for large beef joints.
The decline of beef consumption relative to meats like poultry. Consumers choose the leaner poultry because animal fat has been connected with coronary heart disease, obesity and cancer. Studies have found that consumers were inclined to avoid red meat. A pan-EU survey of consumer attitudes towards foods, nutrition and health, involving approximately 14,000 so little was known about the disease.
Finally the long life cycle of cattle, together with a more labour-intensive slaughtering process are factors that make the production of beef relatively costly. Concentration in the beef slaughtering industry is increasing, with a relatively small number of large companies taking over a still larger share of total slaughtering. The European beef sector has, like other meat sectors, undergone a significant change of scale at all stages in the business system. The average farm grows larger, the average slaughtering company grows and the average beef retailer gets larger, especially because of the diminishing importance of butchers. Yet to continue to prosper, these players need to adapt to the changing nature of the industry.
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