August 15, 2013

After China banned all imports of EU beef since the BSE outbreak of 2000, officials on both sides have been working to try and reopen the multi-million Euros Chinese market to Irish beef.

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore said there had been "encouraging signs" from talks with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a Communist Party state leader during a four-day trade mission.

"I think that there is support now at political level, at leadership level in government in China to allow Irish beef back into the market," Gilmore told the Farming Independent. "But obviously they'll have to be satisfied to give the necessary clearances."

Food quality has become a major issue in China and comes in the wake of recent scandals surrounding tainted baby formula.

Gilmore added that a timetable for moving the process on also arose during the talks.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that ABP's exclusive supplier relationship with Sainsbury's has ended. In the past week, the supermarket chain announced that Dunbia is to begin supplying the British retail chain next year.

The move is expected to benefit Dunbia suppliers in Northern Ireland since Sainsbury's is determined to maximise the amount of meat that it sources from 'British' farmers.

At the heart of the China beef boom is the middle class consumer who is developing new appetites to go with new-found prosperity. China's total beef imports from January to April were up more than 10 times from the year ago-period. Australia exported 57,060 tonnes of beef products in the first five months of 2013—compared to only 36,273 tonnes in all of 2013.

Even after a sharp rise in recent years, China only consumes four to five kilogrammes of beef/person annually, which is about 20% of the world average. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and UN forecast that meat imports could rise 3% annually over the next 10 years to 1.7 million tonnes in 2022, with beef growing fastest at 7%.