The interim chief executive of Bord Bia has said that flying fresh Irish beef to the southeast Asian market does not damage Ireland’s sustainability credentials.
Concerns had been raised by some Agriland readers about the potential environmental impact of using air freight for some Irish beef products.
However, Michael Murphy said that the majority of produce is frozen and transported by sea, but this is not possible for fresh beef. Speaking to Agriland, while in southeast Asia, Murphy said:
“There’s only a small portion of beef coming into this part of the world from Ireland that’s flown in directly, but that opens up the [market] opportunity. In time, the vast bulk will come by cargo [ship] into this market.
“The cost of flying product into any market is very expensive so it’s really about maximising the most efficient way to get it into the market place,” he added.
“Some customers want their product in the freshest state possible so that’s why they ask for it to be flown in. That’s really only at the very top end of the market,” Murphy told Agriland.
“If you look at the carbon footprint of a kilo of beef, the transport element of that is not that high, relatively speaking.
“Those planes are largely travelling in any event, the fact that we’re maximising the return for Irish beef through it, I don’t think it damages our reputation in any shape or form,” Murphy added.
The interim Bord Bia chief executive said that a major part of beef promotion overseas is getting the best return for the industry, including farmers, from the market.
The sale of Irish beef offal in Japan is worth around €13 million annually, which is predominately made up of tongue. This accounts for around half of the overall value Irish beef exports into the country.
“The Japanese market is the best market in the world for tongue, it pays better than the French market.
“So what Japan is doing is upping the entire value of the beef animal sold into the factories and that’s helping to make the return back to the farmers in Ireland,” Murphy said.
When asked by Agriland about Irish farmers being paid for offal by meat factories, Murphy said:
“The whole animal is paid for when you sell an animal to a factory. Our job is to maximise return so that for every cut on a beef animal, whether it be offal or not, you get maximum return from the marketplace.
“There’s no individual element of the beef animal paid for differently in any market that I’m aware of in the world, so the issue here is about maximising the value of the entire beef animal.
“The beef animal is made up of so many different parts and some markets pay more for particular cuts than the others,” Murphy said.