The director of Meat Industry Ireland (MII), Dale Crammond, has said it is going to take time before Irish beef exports to China return to the levels seen in 2019 and early 2020.

In an interview with Agriland at SIAL Shanghai while attending a Bord Bia trade mission to China led by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, the MII boss said MII members are “excited” for Irish beef to be back on the market in China.

“We were out of the market for a number of years so it’s great that the market is back open to us,” he said.

However, Crammond said it will take “a bit of time” to get back to where business used to be.

“We had exported about 7,000t of beef in the first five months of 2020 so it will take a bit of time to get back to that level, but there clearly are opportunities there over the medium to long term,” he said.

Commenting on the progress being made during the trade mission, Crammond said: “The MII members have been engaging and I think it’s been a great opportunity for them to reconnect with their customers.

“SIAL gives them the opportunity to engage with new customers and ultimately, that’s why we’re here, to build those options going forward.”

He noted that Irish pork has been in the Chinese market “since 2007” and praised the Irish pork exporters, saying “they’ve really led the way in terms of Irish exports of meat products to this market”.

“Beef is still in its infancy but clearly there’s a lot they can learn from the pork side as they grow the market, but there’s definitely big opportunities there on the beef side to build up the business,” he said.