Bell Welcomes Export Ambition of Linden Foods
Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell has welcomed the export ambition of Linden Foods during a visit to its Tyrone headquarters.
Owned by Fane Valley Group, the award winning meat processor is planning to expand into new markets and double export sales with its new premium brand of Turf & Clover products. The Dungannon based company launched its new brand portfolio of beef, lamb, poultry and pork meats to trade buyers at Anuga 2015 and is now following up on several leads across Europe.
Jonathan Bell said: “Linden Foods Limited is a market leader within the Northern Ireland fresh meat processing industry and makes a valuable contribution to growing our agri-food industry. The development of its Turf & Clover range demonstrates Linden’s commitment to innovation in order to remain profitable. Linden’s export ambition reinforces the company’s passion to expand its international presence and leverage the profile of its award winning produce during Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink 2016.”
Linden Foods services a range of retail multiples, convenience food manufacturers and the wider meat packing industry in the UK and Europe.
Gerry Maguire, Managing Director of Linden Foods said: “Profiling our Turf & Clover range at Anuga was tremendously successful for us and gave us an unrivalled platform to strengthen Linden’s worldwide reputation for our finest Irish meat cuts.
Our customers appreciate our Fane Valley Co-operative roots and our 100 year history of supplying for and to the farmer. Visitors to our stand at Anuga were quick to identify with the key messages underpinning the new range and the fact that our beef comes from exceptional breeding farms in Ireland with a short and integrated supply base. They fell in love with our green land and the island’s geographic location, lush grass and wet weather conditions, which are unique and assist in producing an animal of the utmost quality.”
Gerry continues: “After a challenging couple of years in the sector our sales outside the UK have stayed relatively stable at £42million for 2015 complimented by new export contracts to countries such as Germany, The Netherlands, France, Denmark and Finland.
We have high hopes for Turf and Clover internationally and our sales team have set targets for entering new markets for the forthcoming years, with customers from Dubai, Malta and Romania all extremely interested in Turf and Clover.”
