China opens its market to Irish bovine semen

The opening of the Chinese market for Irish bovine semen was welcomed Wednesday (Feb 25) by Ireland's agriculture minister Brendan Smith.

He said it is a very significant development for the Irish livestock breeding sector as Irish companies, for the first time, can access China's huge and potentially lucrative market by offering quality genetics in Irish bovine semen to Chinese customers.

In order to be granted permission to export bovine semen from Ireland to China, the Irish agriculture department had to satisfy the requirements of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Smith added that access was secured after Chinese officials paid two visits to Ireland to carry out detailed and rigorous inspections of Irish companies that planned to export bovine semen to China.

Currently, the South Eastern Cattle Breeding Society and the National Cattle Breeding Centre have been approved to export the semen to China.