Animal
Health and Welfare Strategy indicators:
headline indicator 2
Level of trade restrictions against the UK on animal health and welfare grounds
Indicators are available in downloadable Adobe Acrobat 
format on request - For queries or information on this indicator contact Defra’s animal health and welfare statistics on + 44 (0) 1904 455098 or email ahw.stats@defra.gsi.gov.uk
| Vision: Our disease status is amongst the highest in the world and we are able to trade our animals and animal products internationally. |
- Animal Health and Welfare Strategy – indicator fact sheet
- Animal Health and Welfare Strategy – indicator data sheet
Headline indicator 2: Level of trade restrictions against the UK on animal health and welfare grounds – indicator
fact sheet
| Indicator | Beef and Live Cattle trade pre and post Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) ban (The indicator will be extended to cover other livestock types and animal products as necessary to reflect any other trade restrictions in place). |
| Data | Level of trade in beef and cattle pre and post ban. Level of trade with France, historically the UK’s most significant beef trade partner, pre and post ban. |
| Geographic coverage | United Kingdom |
| Years | 1988 to 2006 |
| Source | Agricultural Statistics and Analysis Division, DEFRA |
| Origin of data | Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – Information is taken directly from returns and reports required with every export and import consignment. |
| Updates | This indicator will be updated biannually and was last updated in June 2007. The next update will be December 2007. |
| Background | On 27th March 1996 the EC prohibited all UK exports of beef and cattle and their by-products to all other EU member states and the rest of the world because of the BSE epidemic in the country, and the related cases of vCJD being reported. A beef export market which, at its peak in 1995, had become worth £720 million collapsed as a result. Only beef and products from cattle born after August 1996 could be exported, as long as the animals were between 6 and 30 months old and did not come from a BSE-infected herd. In May 2006 new regulation came into force lifting the ban on: • Exports of boneless meat and meat products from UK bovines, born after 31-July 1996; • Exports of bone-in meat from UK bovines born after 31-July 1996; • Live cattle exports from the UK. |
| Statistical & methodological information | Overseas trade statistics are compiled from returns made to HMRC by importers and exporters. The data is reliable for comparisons across time periods to be made, although any illegal trade will not be recorded in these statistics. |
| Further information | Further information on BSE related export and trade can be found at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/export-trade/index.html Further information on HMRC can be found at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ |
Headline indicator 2: Level of trade restrictions against the UK on animal health and welfare grounds – indicator data sheet
The following charts show trade data for the years leading up to the UK ban, and the subsequent trade in beef after the ban. The charts include trade data for live cattle, and beef and beef products (including bone-in beef, bone-out beef, edible offal and prepared or preserved meat).
Chart H2(i) can be split into three time-periods:
- Before the ban: Between 1988 and 1995, UK beef and live cattle exports more than doubled in value, reaching £720 million at their peak in 1995. In 1995, the beef export industry was worth £642 million, whilst the live cattle exports were valued at almost £78 million. The proportion of UK beef and live cattle exported to the EU fluctuated between about 85 and 95 per cent during the period;
- During the ban: In 1997, the first complete year after the ban, exports fell to just 3% of what they were in 1995, with just £22 million of beef exported and no live exports. There was a slow recovery over the following 8 years, with beef exports valued at £32 million in 2005. During the ban, 95-98% of total UK beef exports were to the EU;
- Lifting of the ban: Exports of UK beef and live cattle more than trebled between 2005 and 2006, from £32 to £104 million, with 98% of all beef exported going to EU countries;
- In the 8 months from May-December 2006, £3.3 million of live cattle were exported from the UK, 99% of which went to EU countries. In the last year of exports before the ban was placed, the UK exported live cattle for the value of £77.6 million;
- It remains to be seen whether exports of beef and live cattle will recover towards pre-ban levels; 2007 will be the first full calendar year for exports since the ban being lifted, and this may give a better picture of the recovery.
Chart H2(ii) shows:
- Over the period 1988-1995, France was the UK’s main export trade partner, receiving between 42% and 57% of the UK’s total beef/cattle exports;
- From 1997-2005, not only did the total value of exports from the UK to France fall in absolute terms, there was also a substantial fall in its relative trading;
- From 1997-2005 the percentage of the UK’s total beef exports going to France fell to between 2% and 9% of all exports;
- For the period 1988-1995, the UK exported an average of £204.5 million worth of beef and live cattle to France; from 1997-2005, this average had fallen to just £1.6 million;
- In 2006, after the lifting of the bans on UK exports, the UK’s levels of trade with France saw some recovery towards old levels;
- The total value of beef and cattle exported to France in 2006 was £14.9 million. This was 14.3% of the total beef and cattle exported from the UK in 2006. This is the highest the relative level of trade has been with France since the ban was introduced. In 2005, France had received just 5.7% of the UK’s total beef exports at a value of £1.8 million.
Page last
modified:
17 September, 2008
Page published: 24 November, 2006