The Department of Agriculture is still waiting on a decision from US food safety officials to grant access for Irish manufacturing beef to be sold in the US.

It is now over 12 months since the much-heralded opening of the US market to Irish beef however, access to the large manufacturing beef market has remained elusive to Irish processors.

Irish beef exports to the US last year were worth approximately €11m, according to the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture.

This is significantly short of the €50-100m value the Minister for Agriculture had predicted was possible in the first year, when he launched Irish beef on the US market.

Much of the blame for the poor performance of the market for Irish beef has been put on the fact that Irish beef as yet does not have access to the manufacturing beef market seen by many as the ‘big prize’.

This week a Department of Agriculture Spokesperson told Agriland that a technical file submitted by Ireland in relation to access for manufacturing beef is at present being assessed by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service.

Meanwhile, the USDA has also forecast that the value beef imports into the US will be $2.2 billion lower to $5.0 billion.

It says the strong pace of imports in 2015 resulted in record-high cold storage stocks, while a recovery in U.S. beef production will further dampen demand for imported beef, resulting in reduced volumes and average unit values in 2016.

This will come as unwelcome news to both the Minster for Agriculture, Simon Coveney and Bord Bia who both have pinned significant hopes on the US market as an important outlet for Irish beef this year.