ABP Food Group has begun flying beef from Ireland to a high-end retailer in Singapore, where certified Angus striploin steaks are retailing at around €72/kg.
Ryan’s Grocery, will also stock lamb from Irish Country Meats (ICM), ABP’s specialist sheepmeat company, at their two locations in Singapore.
This is the first supermarket listing for Irish beef and sheepmeat in the Singapore market.
Speaking to Agriland in Singapore, Martin McMahon, general manager of ABP international sales, explained that the beef is flown out fresh from ABP Cahir in Co. Tipperary weekly.
“We started exporting some chilled high-value products to Ryan’s Grocery about three or four months ago and the business is growing,” he said.
ABP is planning to run promotions in the supermarket in the coming months to establish a foothold in the market.
McMahon attributed the beef price to the quality of the product, along with the high tax rate placed on retailers in Singapore.
He said that similar prices could be seen in produce from Australia and New Zealand.
The beef and lamb is being flown by Irish company, Premier Brands International (PBI), which covers the air freight costs for ABP, along with logistics, labelling and documentation.
Sinead Kennedy, regional accountant manager with PBI in Asia, said that the cost of transporting goods by air has increased “massively”.
“Currently, we are operating at double what we would have been pre-Covid-19. It’s about €4.50/kg to send [beef] by air from Ireland to Singapore.
“It would have been under the €3/kg mark, somewhere around €2.50-€2.60/kg would have been ballpark previously, so we have to build in those extra costs into our budgets and costings.
“You have to remember in these faraway markets that there are a lot of links in the chain. We’re not sending products directly from factory to shelf,” Kennedy said.
“You’ve got freight costs, labelling and handling costs, there’s a distributor who is adding 30-35% and retail generally is a very-high margin business in Singapore – typically a customer will take anywhere upwards of 35-40%,” she added.
Ryan’s Grocery already carries a range of Irish brands including Glenisk, Ballymaloe and Burren Smokehouse, and will now also stock Burren Smokehouse organic salmon and Glenisk organic yoghurt.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue visited the supermarket while on the Singapore leg of a government-led trade mission.
“It’s a testament to Irish farmers that the discerning team at Ryan’s Grocery has chosen Irish beef and lamb to add to their premium portfolio of certified supplier farms.
“It is also wonderful to see that quality Irish organic foods are finding new and exciting markets,” he said.
Bord Bia’s interim CEO, Michael Murphy commented:
“While the [Singapore] market is small in value and volume terms, as an influential gateway market to the entire region, increasing the visibility of Irish meat on shelves is an important step forward for Irish beef exports.”
In 2021, Ireland exported €1.8 million worth of Irish beef and offal and sheepmeat valued around €840,000 to Singapore.
Bord Bia will host seven Irish exporters on the Ireland stand at the three-day Food Hotel Asia (FHA) show, which starts on Monday (September 5) in Singapore.