Irish meat processors have voiced concerns about not being able to meet the volume of beef required for Chinese contracts – and are calling for further plants to be approved for export to China – according to Department of Agriculture officials.
Speaking before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine yesterday (Tuesday, February 19), Maria Dunne, head of policy of the meat and milk policy division of the department, noted that expanding beyond the current limit of frozen, boneless beef is not an issue for the industry.
“We have had a lot of efforts on diversifying trade and opening up new markets coming out of the minister’s seven-point action plan last April. We had three big successes in beef last year; China was only one of them, but I suppose a very important one. We opened the market for frozen, boneless beef.
“We have 11 meat plants now approved to export to China; six of them beef and five of them pigmeat plants.
When we have gone back and sat down with the companies that are active out there and the ask from them is for actually more plants to be approved. They say that the issue they have is they have a concern about not being able to meet the volume that the Chinese contracts require.
“So their first ask is not to expand beyond that boneless beef; I mean, there is a list of things, but the priority is for more plants to be approved.”
The department official noted that there were approximately 11 more files out there, with industry stakeholders definitely seeing the potential for “a lot more to be shipped out there”, solely within the frozen, boneless beef remit.
“After that, we will then look at expanding out into other subsectors.”
Assistant secretary general of the Department of Agriculture Sinead McPhilips added: “We have certainly seen significant enthusiasm from the Chinese consumer for the [product].
The way they use that beef is quite different from the way we use it domestically so they’ll take frozen cuts and slice it very thinly and put it into their traditional cuisine, and there is huge enthusiasm for Irish beef.
Dunne also noted: “It is seen as a massive win among our European colleagues that we have achieved that.
“Last year in 2018 we also got access to Qatar and to Kuwait – and they are also for boneless beef,” she concluded.