Beef ban rethink cheer • Hopes of an end to
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the beef ban by the autumn have been given a muted welcome by British hauliers.
Although the expected lifting of the ban will allow beef carcasses and livestock to be resumed, experts believe it could be two more years until continental consumers forget the BSE scare.
There is little optimism that the livestock market will ever return to its former volumes.
"There are no indications that the floodgates will open," says the Meat and Livestock Commission, which expects consumers' attitudes and the strong pound to work against the British beef industry initially.
The Road Haulage Association believes British hauliers will see a slow, steady growth in international beef traffic, but warns that continental hauliers, with the advantage of lower diesel prices, are likely to poach some of the work.
Before the ban hauliers were carrying about 200,000 tonnes a year of beef throughout the EU but many specialist hauliers in Britain had to halve their fleets overnight.