Berlin hosts one of the great world food fairs. While Ireland has no presence at the event Britain is strongly represented with a pub and supermarket.
Berlin's Green Week is a major international exhibition where the great food-exporting nations show their wares to that most important customer, the rich European housewife.
For over 200 Million prosperous consumers in the Common Market, food prices are the world’s highest. In Berlin alone, £200,000,000 a year is spent on food, so this is a market food and drink exporters are eager to crack.
Held annually in February, International Green Week in Berlin is an internationally renowned food fair, and it is here that exporting nations compete for their share of the householders' pay packet.
Food and drink make up 5% of total British exports. In preparation for European Economic Community (EEC) membership, and with the prospect of attracting more business, they have spent £50,000 on the British pavilion. The pavilion includes a British supermarket and a British style pub. The pub is doing a roaring trade in English beer, Scotch whisky with a drink is sold every 20 seconds.
Manager of the British pavilion Paddy Matthews explains to Joe Murray that Britain's goods already sell in the Common Market but tariff barriers make them expensive.
The result of this is many of our foodstuffs finish up in the shop at a very high price, I think you can put it this way that, a lot of our products end up in the gourmet shop and not the supermarket.
Britain is outside the Common Market but determined to get in.
If I think we were in the Common Market then I think we would be able to increase the exports because they would get into the mass market at a greater extent than is possible at the moment.
Fifty per cent of Ireland’s exports are food and drink, but Ireland is not did not invest in a Green Week pavilion. However Irish stout is selling well in the British supermarket.
'Food For Europe's Table' was first broadcast on 20 February 1968. The reporters are Joe Murray and Padraig Ó Raghaillaigh.
