Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 July 2018
26. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status and detail of the quantities and destinations on the export markets for beef, lamb and live exports of sheep and cattle for 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31446/18]
View answerBeef exports have kept pace with 2017 exports so far this year. Our top five export destinations for beef exports between January and April were Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany. Ireland exported beef worth €335.6 million to Great Britain, €69.4 million to France, and €63.4 million to the Netherlands. Ireland has exported 168.4 million tonnes of beef in this period, at a value of €759.1 million; this represents a slight increase in value compared to this same period last year.
CSO figures for Jan-April of this year show that the value of sheepmeat exports has increased, compared to the same period last year. The figures show that Ireland exported 17.8 million tonnes of sheepmeat at a value of €97.7 million in this period, compared to 18.5 million tonnes at a value of €91.5 million in the same period last year. This represents an increase in value of just under 7%. Top markets for sheepmeat are France, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium and Sweden; exports to France, our top market, are at €30.1 million for Jan-April of this year.
Live cattle exports up to week 26 of this year show a sharp increase of 30.9% against this period in 2017. The figures show an increase in trade to EU countries. The top three markets Spain, Netherlands and Italy accounted for 77% of the exports for the year to date. 616 live sheep have been exported so far this year, the main markets being France with 577 animals as well as smaller numbers to the UK and Belgium.
One of my Department’s priorities, particularly in the context of Brexit and in line with the market development theme of Foodwise 2025, is to further increase the market opportunity for Irish food and drink internationally, especially for the meat sector. The Market Access unit in my Department is continuing to make progress on a wide range of market access issues across the beef and sheepmeat sectors, and also the pigmeat and poultry sectors.
Recent successes in terms of market access include the approval of six beef plants to export frozen boneless beef to China. Beef exports to China have now commenced. A certificate for beef, sheepmeat and poultry has also recently been agreed with Qatar.
I recently launched an online international market access information portal which provides information across some of the major agrifood export sectors of dairy, meat, seafood and live animals. The information provided includes certification arrangements, exporter terms and conditions, individual country trading statistics and the typical products exported to individual markets. This portal is a very valuable tool for our producers and exporters. As new markets are opened or certification conditions are changed, this will of course be reflected by the necessary changes to the web portal. The portal can be accessed at www.marketaccess.agriculture.gov.ie/.
