Irish beef appears to be onto a winner in France, according to Le Figaro, the biggest selling newspaper in France.

A headline in last week’s paper roughly translated to ‘Irish beef seduces the best French tables’.

Eric de La Chesnais, the author of the piece, explained to his readers that Ireland played the quality and traceability card to build a reputation in the home of the biggest beef producer in Europe.

He explains that this was done, not by tackling the big French brands head-on but by building a reputation with consumers for excellence through meeting the levels of excellence demanded at the tables of the great Michelin starred chefs.

Head Chef of the Le Diane Michelin starred restaurant, Christophe Schmitt, told the paper that like others, he “was conquered by the quality, tenderness and the exceptional marbelling of this meat”.

The author went on to quote one of the leading beef importers in France, Jean Denaux, who said that “half the Irish beef imported to France goes into the high-end restaurants, the rest to the shelves of specialised shops or in prepared dishes”.

In 2015, Bord Bia valued Irish beef exports at €2.4 billion, an increase of 6% on 2014 levels and France is a key export location for Ireland.

Last year, Irish exports of fresh, frozen and processed beef products rose 7% above 2014 levels to €2.19 billion.

Looking to the rest of 2016, supplies to the meat processors are expected to increase to between 60,000 and 80,000 head.