February 12, 2009
Irish meat industry working hard to restore markets
The Irish meat industry is still working hard to restore markets, following the dioxin scare in January.
The Japanese market remains open to Irish pork, but others, such as Russia, China and South Korea have yet to reopen.
Ireland continues to deal with the aftermath of the product recall and government ministers have visited key markets.
Bord BÃa chairman Dan Browne said that when recall issues are dealt with, there is a strong faith in the product and exports should resume.
Browne said the impact of the pork recall on the image of Ireland as a safe and reputable supplier of food is not clear which means that evidence of actions to address perceived food safety risks will be required and the promotion of Ireland as a food island will be reassessed.
Meanwhile, it was good news for beef which was the only meat sector that saw an increase of 7 percent in value exports during 2008 to reach EUR1.6 million (US$2 million).
Around 99 percent of exports in value terms stayed in the EU, and while the value of beef exports increased, volume declined by 8 percent to 483,000 tonnes but this was more than offset by a 16 percent increase in prices
Bord BÃa announced ambitious plans to increase the sales value of beef by EUR170 million (US$219.4 million) over the next five years to 2013 by differentiating and repositioning Irish beef in key markets and moving 60,000 tonnes up the value chain to secure better prices.
The value of pork and poultry exports was down in 2008.
