Tuesday, 6 Mar 2018

Food Exports

Questions (188, 189)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

188. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the countries to which food and drink products were exported in 2016; the final year figures for 2017, by value and volume of total exports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10786/18]

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Charlie McConalogue

Question:

189. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the countries to which food and drink products were imported in 2016; the final year figures for 2017, by volume and value of total imports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10787/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I propose to take Questions Nos. 188 and 189 together.

Irish agrifood exports and imports are broken down into 24 categories identified and agreed by my Department and the Central Statistics Office. Products and Raw goods are categorised using combined nomenclature codes, a European harmonised system used to classify goods for customs and trade purposes. These categories include items such as Forestry and Animal Hides and Skins, along with traditional Food and Beverage products.

Total agrifood sector imports for 2016 came to €8.17 billion from over 180 destinations worldwide.

Full year figures for 2017 indicate total agrifood imports for the period of €8.69 billion from over 180 destinations.

Total exports for 2016 came to €12.19 billion an increase of 1.8% from the previous year, and to over 180 destinations worldwide, this figure increased to €13.56 billion in 2017.

The tables contained in the following link provide a full breakdown of import and export destinations in respect of both value and volume of goods based on CSO data.

Tables

In view of the volume of statistical data collected as part of agrifood trade statistics, some errors in respect of individual products may occur. Where these anomalies are identified, the Department will liaise with the Central Statistics Office to highlight and amend the information as required

Further information in respect of Irish agrifood trade can be found in Chapter 4 of my Department's Annual Review and Outlook, 2016 - 2017.

Aquaculture Licence Applications Data

Questions (190)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

190. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of aquaculture licences sought in each of the years 2015 to 2017 by county; the number awaiting a decision; the number decided in this period; the number awaiting a decision to date, by shellfish licences and fin fish licences in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10788/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The detailed information requested by the Deputy is not readily available in full. Provision of the information sought will require an extensive examination of my Department’s records. The information will be forwarded to the Deputy within 2 weeks.

Aquaculture Licence Applications Data

Questions (191)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

191. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of aquaculture licences for aquatic plants sought in each of the years 2015 to 2017, by county; the number awaiting a decision; the number decided in this period; the number awaiting decision to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10789/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

My Department’s records indicate that six new applications have been sought for the cultivation of aquatic plants during the period in question. These licence applications have not yet been determined.

The following table shows the breakdown per county and by year:

County	2015	2016	2017
Cork			3
Clare			1
Donegal	1
Offaly		1

Aquaculture Licence Applications Data

Questions (192)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

192. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of aquaculture licences for aquatic plants in operation nationally, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10790/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

My Department’s records indicate that thirteen aquaculture sites are licensed to cultivate aquatic plants in accordance with the provisions of the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act.

The following table shows the breakdown per county:

County	No. of Aquaculture Sites
Cork	5
Mayo	3
Kerry	2
Galway	1
Sligo	1
Offaly	1
Total	13

GLAS Data

Questions (193)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

193. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of persons in receipt of GLAS 1, 2 and 3 who have received the 85% advance payment of their 2017 payment by county, in tabular form; the number of persons who have passed all payment approval checks and are awaiting their 85% portion of 2017 payment; the number of GLAS recipients who have yet to receive this portion of payment by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10791/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The information requested is provided below in tabular form. Payment has issued to all cases cleared for payment and weekly updates are published on my Department's website. It should be noted that there are still approximately 2,000 scheme participants who remain ineligible for a payment due to a failure on their part to comply with the scheme and are classified below as "advance not paid".

	GLAS 1		GLAS 2		GLAS 3		TOTAL
County	Advance paid	Adv not paid	Advance paid	Adv not paid	Advance paid	Adv not paid	Advance paid	Adv not paid
Carlow	252	23	112	15	122	5	486	43
Cavan	860	42	396	35	508	31	1,764	108
Clare	1,515	96	640	47	760	47	2,915	190
Cork	1,990	151	902	100	864	70	3,756	321
Donegal	1,798	133	913	85	1,298	106	4,009	324
Dublin	52	8	16	1	17	2	85	11
Galway	2,775	283	1,159	141	1,477	108	5,411	532
Kerry	1,609	158	788	81	688	72	3,085	311
Kildare	214	30	60	18	98	16	372	64
Kilkenny	400	27	185	22	169	22	754	71
Laois	349	19	181	11	213	17	743	47
Leitrim	965	51	389	30	498	28	1,852	109
Limerick	987	58	271	29	387	15	1,645	102
Longford	484	27	321	22	310	19	1,115	68
Louth	131	16	68	9	92	3	291	28
Mayo	2,274	271	1,148	177	1,493	163	4,915	611
Meath	396	25	186	13	232	19	814	57
Monaghan	539	36	140	5	329	9	1,008	50
Offaly	444	31	249	28	273	21	966	80
Roscommon	1,444	74	503	47	682	32	2,629	153
Sligo	871	65	333	30	464	27	1,668	122
Tipperary	1,045	81	458	49	472	29	1,975	159
Waterford	311	48	105	26	104	18	520	92
Westmeath	614	27	247	16	260	20	1,121	63
Wexford	668	89	218	45	274	34	1,160	168
Wicklow	301	28	140	11	185	16	626	55
TOTAL	23,288	1,897	10,128	1,093	12,269	949	45,685	3,939

Agri-Environment Options Scheme Data

Questions (194)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

194. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of persons who applied for AEOS who have received their total 2017 advance payment by county, in tabular form; the number of persons who have passed all payment approval checks and are awaiting their 2017 advanced payment; the number of AEOS recipients who have yet to receive payment by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10792/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

AEOS participants that were paid the advance payment for the 2017 scheme year in 2017 were also paid the balancing payment before the end of 2017. A number of cases were held for review of payments made over the lifetime of the scheme. These cases are being processed and finalised on an on-going basis. The following table outlines the current position.

County	Numbers paid for 2017	Numbers to be processed for 2017
Carlow	8	3
Cavan	69	12
Clare	118	17
Cork	83	55
Donegal	289	85
Dublin	2	1
Galway	334	61
Kerry	150	51
Kildare	5	2
Kilkenny	17	7
Laois	17	2
Leitrim	150	17
Limerick	49	12
Longford	17	5
Louth	12	3
Mayo	312	98
Meath	21	2
Monaghan	46	8
Offaly	21	10
Roscommon	125	42
Sligo	82	19
Tipperary	34	12
Waterford	16	8
Westmeath	29	1
Wexford	10	3
Wicklow	12	4
Grand Total	2028	540

Beef Industry

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I propose to take Questions Nos. 195 to 198, inclusive, together.

The following figures have been provided to my Department by the Central Statistics Office. In view of the volume of statistical data collected as part of agrifood trade statistics, some errors in respect of individual products may occur. Where these anomalies are identified, the Department will liaise with the Central Statistics Office to highlight and amend the information as required.

Volume and value of beef exports to Northern Ireland for 2017 are:

Volume	Value
Tonnes	€000
33,687	€118,697

Volume and value of beef imports from Northern Ireland to Ireland for 2017 are:

Volume	Value
Tonnes	€000
2,610	€12,116

Volume and value of beef exports to the United Kingdom 2017 (excluding NI) are

Volume	Value
Tonnes	€000
241,867	€1,048,822

Volume and value of beef imports from the United Kingdom 2017 (excluding NI) are:

Volume	Value
Tonnes	€000
26,872	€91,488

While these figures reflect the strong position Ireland occupies as a major net exporter of beef and also the existing relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom in the export and import of beef, it is clear that Brexit will pose a challenge to the continued strong performance of Irish beef exports.

One of the key elements in responding to this challenge is to ensure markets for the export of Irish beef. I am very conscious of the importance of growing third country markets to ensure as many commercial outlets as possible for Irish beef; this is included as a key component of the Food Wise 2025 strategy. My Department is currently in the process of negotiating beef access to a range of Third Countries including China, South Korea, Ukraine, Thailand and Vietnam. This will build on the opening of some major markets in recent years including the US, Canada and Japan. The share of Irish beef exports outside of the EU has grown from less than 2% in 2013 to 6% in 2017, representing a significant diversification from our traditional UK and EU markets.

Food Industry Data

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I propose to take Questions Nos. 199 to 208, inclusive, together.

The Deputy has requested various details in respect of dairy trade between Ireland and Britain/Northern Ireland, across a range of product categories, for the year 2017. The CSO are the agency responsible for collating and disseminating this information, and recently released provisional trade data for the period January to December 2017 inclusive. This is set out in the attached table.

For cheese, a percentage estimate is included in respect of cheddar as a proportion of the total cheese category. It should be noted that the data as compiled is based on CSO preliminary estimates which will be subject to periodic revision based on updated trade statistics.

In view of the volume of statistical data collected as part of agrifood trade statistics, some errors in respect of individual products may occur. Where these anomalies are identified, the Department will liaise with the Central Statistics Office to highlight and amend the information as required.

GREAT BRITAIN & NORTHERN IRELAND DAIRY TRADE WITH IRELAND - JAN to DEC 2017 -Source CSO

Geographic Entity	GB	GB	GB	GB	NI	NI	NI	NI
TRADE FLOW	Exports	Exports	Imports	Imports	Exports	Exports	Imports	Imports
PRODUCT CATEGORY	€ MILLION	Tonnes	€ MILLION	Tonnes	€ MILLION	Tonnes	€ MILLION	Tonnes
Milk	6.8	9,845	18.6	40,157	24.5	93,354	221.8	661,821
Cream	12.7	3,753	0.9	422	15.3	4,600	7.0	3,711
SMP (skimmed Milk Powder)	17.9	9,428	19.0	20,799	0.4	201	0.2	77
WMP (Whole Milk Powder)	15.7	6,824	6.1	8,724	10.2	3,900	1.0	1,822
Yoghurt	19.9	6,385	28.8	16,402	1.9	528	0.8	1,009
Buttermilk	5.6	4,390	15.0	10,096	1.0	524	5.0	7,402
Ice Cream	9.4	4,742	52.8	23,269	1.8	1,448	0.7	388
Whey	19.6	19,226	6.0	6,516	0.7	993	0.5	1,769
Butter	219.2	45,514	17.3	5,267	28.2	6,215	4.4	954
Cheese	407.2	113,730	137.7	35,225	2.4	409	0.6	159
OF WHICH Cheddar % (est)	62.3%	70.7%	36.1%	40.9%	54.7%	45.7%	50.7%	60.4%
IF (Infant Formula)	134.0	32,631	6.2	1,203	0.2	224	0.1	10
FFMP (Fat Filled Milk Powder)	16.3	6,526	11.4	2,520	4.9	2,522	0.2	116
Caseines & Caseinates	17.2	2,764	0.4	109	0.0	0	0.0	0
TOTAL TRADE	904.4	267,427	325.1	174,562	91.9	115,020	243.5	679,659