An Irish exporting company is currently preparing an order for the Turkish market. Purcell Brothers, the Waterford-based firm, are sourcing beef-bred bulls in the region of 250-330kg.
The consignment will amount to approximately 3,000 bulls, and will set sail in the coming weeks, when the quarantine period is complete.
While officials in Turkey have stopped issuing new licences for the importation of live cattle into the country, this shipment relates to an import licence drawn up before the importation of animals came to an end during the backend of last year.
No new licences have been granted in Turkey for live cattle imports to date. It is believed that it will be May or June before any new licences are issued.
One of the main reasons for this is the Turkish beef price and the number of cattle in the Turkish system; officials will often suspend live cattle imports to stabilise beef prices and to prevent an oversupply in the market; the Turkish market can be very unpredictable.
In other export news, a consignment (2,200) of bulls is currently being sought for the Libyan market. The exporter – Curzon Livestock – is procuring Friesian bulls weighing 250-600kg.
The company is also sourcing continental bulls weighing 500-700kg for the same shipment; the bulls are scheduled to set sail in early March.
The same exporter loaded a consignment of bulls in January of this year – again for the Libyan market.
The Friesian bulls were shipped via a livestock-carrying vessel which was loaded in Co. Cork. Curzon Livestock is confident of more shipments of Irish cattle to Libya throughout 2020.