Irish beef and dairy products were top of the agenda this week as the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, and Bord Bia Chief Executive Tara McCarthy led a trade mission to the Gulf States.
The trade mission saw Minister Creed, McCarthy and an Irish delegation of 30 visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The week kicked off on Saturday, February 25, with the delegation, including Agriland, travelling to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday, the Minister secured enhanced access for Irish beef to the market after he met with Prof Dr Hisham Saad Aljadhey, the Executive President of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), which is the competent authority in Saudi Arabia for market access matters.
“This agreement will make a difference to Irish companies wishing to send beef to Saudi Arabia, by adding processed, cooked, minced and bone-in beef to the products that can be exported to Saudi Arabia,” the Minister said.
The Minister and the relevant Saudi Arabian authorities also agreed on Sunday to further discussions around market access to the Gulf state for Irish sheepmeat.
It was then announced on the final day of the trade mission that the ban on imports of Irish sheepmeat had been lifted.
The Minister also visited Ornua’s dairy ingredients factory in Al Wazeen, which opened last year to supply the Saudi Arabian market as dairy consumption increases.
There he received a tour of the factory and met members of the team while also engaging with some of their key customers.
“In 2016, Ireland exported dairy products to over 130 countries,” he said.
“Against the backdrop of our efforts to significantly increase dairy output and grow the sector, export market diversification is obviously of the upmost importance, and this is particularly true in the context of a post-Brexit scenario.”
The second day of the visit to Saudi Arabia saw Agriland receive a tour of one of Almarai’s six ‘super’ farms in Riyadh.
Some 22,500 cows are milked on the Al Badiah dairy farm. In total, there are approximately 105,000 cows being milked across all the Almarai farms.
The Holstein cows are fed four times a day and also milked four times a day.
Also Read: Pics: Milking 22,500 cows in the Saudi Arabian desertEach day on Al Badiah, 960,000L of milk are produced by the cows, with each cow producing on average 48L per day.
The delegation then travelled from Riyadh to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, where the Minister met with the food control and food security authorities over the final days of the trade mission.
Agriland visited the Fresh Express distributor warehouse which imports Irish beef, lamb and salmon. A tour of the factory saw Girard Vouyoukas give a guided tour.
He explained how there is a demand in the UAE for Irish produce and hopes to increase the amount of produce from Ireland going into the country in the future.
Next up on the trade mission was the launch of the ninth Chapter of the Chefs’ Irish Beef Club, which saw Reif Othman become the 88th member of the Club.
This is the first time that the club has expanded outside of Europe.
Accepting his CIBC uniform and statue of the famous Tain Bo Cualigne – The Brown Bull of Cooley – Reif said that he is looking forward to working with Bord Bia and his CIBC colleagues to showcase the finest qualities of Irish beef.
“I have visited Ireland on a number of occasions and seen first-hand the care and attention that goes into producing beef.”
Following the launch, the delegation attended the Gulfood food trade show in Dubai – one of the biggest food fairs in the world.
There the Minister visited the 21 Irish companies exhibiting at this year’s show, where for the first time Bord Bia set up two Origin Green stands.
Gulfood spans more than one million square feet of exhibition space, which has been allocated to 5,000 international exhibitors.
The Middle East, widely regarded as a ‘foodie region’ with an 80-90% import requirement, presents a significant and growing opportunity for Irish food exporters, according to Bord Bia Chief Executive Tara McCarthy.
On the final day of the trade mission, the delegation visited the Sateesh Seemar Racing Stables in Dubai.
There the Minister and McCarthy received a tour of the stables. Later they met with Colm McLoughlin, the Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free and received a tour of a Spinneys Store.
It was also announced that Bord Bia is to host several Arab food buyers next month.
This evening, before flying home, the delegation will attend the Origin Green Gala Dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dubai, with over 300 people expected to attend.