Peadar Tóibín
Question:1262. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of foreign beef sold in the Irish market in each of the past five years. [1541/24]
View answerWednesday, 17 January 2024
Questions (1262)
Written answers
The table below shows the volume of beef imports in tonnes for each of the past five years for which data is available.
Final full year data for 2023 will become available in mid-March 2024, but between January and November 2023 it is estimated that 32,930 tonnes of beef were imported into Ireland. It should be noted that the volume of beef imports is not an exact proxy for foreign beef sold in the Irish market. Some beef products may be imported for processing in Ireland and re-exported for sale abroad, while some Irish beef may be exported for processing abroad and imported for sale here.
|
Jan-Dec 2018 |
Jan-Dec 2019 |
Jan-Dec 2020 |
Jan-Dec 2021 |
Jan-Dec 2022 |
|
|
Category |
Imports |
Imports |
Imports |
Imports |
Imports |
|
Beef |
34,437 |
30,213 |
29,921 |
35,071 |
36,568 |
To put it into context when compared to exports, Ireland is among the largest beef exporters in the northern hemisphere with total exports of 492,000 tonnes worth over €3.05 billion in 2022.
The Irish beef sector is critically dependent on international trade, and therefore, on a multilateral trading system operating under WTO rules, EU Single Market rules, and the Trade and Co-operation Agreement agreed between the EU and UK post Brexit.