The top five markets for Ireland’s beef offal are the UK, Hong Kong, Sweden, France and the Philippines, AgriLand can reveal.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of Irish offal is exported while, worldwide, beef offal exports reached €239 million in 2018.
The information which was supplied by An Bord Bia also points out that slaughterhouses in Ireland “produce offal and sell it to various different markets”.
Many of the larger processors in Ireland subcontract the function of preparing and exporting their edible offal to a specialised company called Irish Casing Company.
A spokesperson for Bord Bia added: “Aside from human consumption, offal is used in pet food, fertilisers and pharmaceuticals.”
Frustration over rules
The information comes on foot of a request by AgriLand after farmers in Co. Longford questioned the rules and regulations governing the four Movement Rule, the traceability of offal and its transportation distance, last week.
They said that farmers across the country are becoming “more and more frustrated” by the red tape within the beef sector.
Brexit
Meanwhile, the EU published a revision of its tariff rate quotas that will apply after Brexit. The revision also dictates how much agricultural produce it imports from countries outside the bloc.
It is understood that the new tariff rate quotas will not only depend on the type of produce, but also on the country it comes from, with different rates depending on how much of that country’s trade is currently with Britain.
The EU says the move is necessary in order to “ensure legal certainty and the continuous smooth operation of imports under the tariff rate quotas to the union and to the United Kingdom”.