Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2015
297. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will report on the work of his Department to open new markets for Irish food products since 2011; the progress which has been made to date on the identified markets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8070/15]
View answerSince I took office in 2011, I have led a number of trade missions and ministerial visits to the Gulf States, China, the United States and Switzerland, as well as numerous visits to European countries and the United Kingdom, all with a view to developing and expanding markets for Irish food and beverages. I also established a Trade Team within the Department in order to ensure a strategic , coordinated and proactive approach to identification of export targets and markets and pursuit of market access. I hosted numerous inward visits so that I could demonstrate first hand to our target markets the quality and sustainability of Irish agrifood production. I also appointed agricultural attachés to Beijing and Moscow reflecting the importance of the Chinese and Russian markets in our export strategy.
The list below illustrates the main tangible outcomes to date of these efforts. Of course, it does not include the many agreements on greater cooperation and information exchange which have been concluded on a government to government and business to business basis, which are too numerous to list here but which are a major significance in the development of new markets. Nor does it capture the continuous ongoing engagement that is required to arrive at these concrete results. Overall, I am very pleased with the progress made. The value of Ireland’s agrifood exports has grown phenomenally in recent years and they are now valued at over €10.5billion. We have secured access to new lucrative markets in the US, Japan and China and developed and expanded our existing trade. The principal outcomes are as follows:
2011
Turkey: Market opened for beef and live cattle
Singapore: Market opened for beef
Tunisia: Market opened for live cattle
Egypt: Veterinary Certificate agreed for beef and market opened for live cattle
Ukraine: Market opened for breeding pigs
China: Market opened for breeding pigs
Serbia: Certificate agreed for meat products
Chile: Certificate agreed for bull semen
Canada: Certificate agreed for fresh pig semen
UAE: Market opened for bovine semen
2012
Singapore: Veterinary Certificates agreed for sheep meat
South Africa: Veterinary Certificates agreed for sheep meat
UAE: Veterinary Certificates agreed for sheep meat
Morocco and UAE: Veterinary Certificates agreed for poultry meat and poultry meat products
China: Agreement secured on exports of boarfish
Iran: Market opened for beef
UAE: Removal of age restriction on beef exports
China: Agreement secured on export of horse feed
China: Agreement secured on export of porcine semen and export certificate agreed
China: Agreement secured on export of horses direct to China
Hong Kong: Health certificate agreed for export of fishery products
Serbia: Veterinary certificate agreed for fresh/frozen pigmeat
2013
US: Initial positive steps taken to reopen the market to beef
Japan: Market opened to beef
UAE: Market opened for sheep-meat
Libya: Market opened for livestock
Australia: Market opened for pig-meat
Iran: Market opened for beef
GCC: Ban lifted for beef and sheep-meat
Canada: Market opened for Sheep-meat.
China: Market opened for Salmon
Russia: Access permitted for meat products previously excluded.
Azerbaijan: Agreement on veterinary health certificate for finished meat products
2014
Lebanon: Agreement on export of meat/meat products of bovine origin
Lebanon: Agreement on export of meat/meat products of ovine origin
Lebanon: Agreement on export of cooked meat/meat products of bovine and ovine origin
Hong Kong: Agreement on veterinary health certificate for the export of sheep-meat
Namibia: Agreement on veterinary health certificate for fresh/frozen meat of bovine, ovine and caprine origin
Philippines: Agreement on veterinary health certificate for the export of beef
Philippines: Agreement on veterinary health certificate for the export of sheepmeat
Philippines: Agreement on veterinary health certificate for the export of pigmeat
Vietnam: Agreement reached on the export of pigmeat
New Caledonia: Adoption of veterinary health certificate for the export of fresh meat and meat products of bovine origin
2015 (to date)
US: Market opened to Irish beef
China: Market opened to Irish beef
