Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 January 2019
200. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the beef and ground beef manufactured here exported to the United States of America on an annual basis over the 2015 to 2018 period in volume and euro value terms, in tabular form. [2273/19]
View answer201. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the exports of beef, lamb, pigmeat and dairy to the USA in volume and euro value on an annual basis over 2015 to 2018 period, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2274/19]
View answer202. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress on gaining access for meat products, that is, beef, lamb and pigmeat to the USA; the remaining stages in the approval process outstanding; and the timeframe for all stages to be completed and full access granted. [2275/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 200 to 202, inclusive, together.
Access for beef and pigmeat to the US is already in place. Ireland was the first EU Member State to be granted beef market access to the USA in 2015. In July 2016, my Department received approval to send Beef Intended for Grinding (BIFG), also known as manufacturing beef to the US. A total of 10 Irish plants have been approved for the export of raw intact beef to the US, of which 2 are also approved for BIFG. Ireland does not have access for processed beef, which may also be called manufactured beef.
Ireland has enjoyed uninterrupted access to the US market for raw pork since 2001 and a total of 3 plants are approved for the export of raw pork to the USA.
Sheepmeat exports from the EU to the US are currently banned due to the presence of TSE in certain EU Member States. Sheepmeat access to the USA will depend in the first instance on the USA lifting its TSE ban on EU Sheepmeat. My Department submitted a sheepmeat questionnaire (SRT) in 2017 in preparation for the lifting of this ban and continues to raise this issue with US officials, both as part of the Trade Missions to the USA and with visiting US officials to Ireland. However, it is not possible to predict a timeline for sheepmeat market access to the USA.
The role of my Department is to open new markets and maintain existing markets for Irish food exports and overall targets are set out for agri-food exports in Foodwise 2025, in terms of an increase to €19 billion by 2025. My Department works very closely with the meat and dairy industry but once a market has been opened trade arrangements are left to individual companies and exporters and the actual trade volumes will vary depending on a range of factors such as currency fluctuations, global supply and demand, and local and international factors.
In 2018 Irish agri-food exports reached an estimated €13.6 billion. Within that, dairy exports exceeded €4 billion, an increase in volume of 5% on the 2017 levels and overall meat and livestock exports increased by 1% to an estimated €3.97 billion according to the Bord Bia Performance and Prospects 2018/2019 report which I launched last week.
In order to provide a country breakdown, as requested, it is necessary to use Central Statistics Office (CSO) trade statistics. The following table provides all the Beef, Pigmeat and Dairy exports for each of the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and the January – October period in 2018 to the USA, the latest period for which data is available from the CSO, in both value and volume terms. The USA was the second biggest destination for Irish food exports in 2017 after the UK and up to the end of October 2018, after the UK.
|
- |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
Jan – Oct 2018 |
||||
|
€000s |
tonnes |
€000s |
tonnes |
€000s |
tonnes |
€000s |
tonnes |
|
|
Beef |
5,452 |
912 |
9,840 |
1,772 |
7,719 |
1,571 |
7,749 |
1,766 |
|
Pigmeat |
27,465 |
6,827 |
25,427 |
6,360 |
19,021 |
4,860 |
14,723 |
4,170 |
|
Dairy |
186,184 |
31,232 |
172,435 |
33,819 |
189,046 |
37,929 |
241,304 |
39,063 |
