Commissioner Hogan is back on the road next week taking a business delegation from across the EU to Vietnam and Indonesia. Arrabawn co-op and Ornua are the Irish participants on the mission, which runs from Wednesday 2 November until the following Wednesday 9 November.
This will be the third such mission this year following previous visits to China and Japan in April and Colombia and Mexico in February.
Asia is one of the truly developing markets in the world, and while there has been much focus on China, which is already a major customer of Irish dairy and pig meat products, Vietnam has a population of 90m people and Indonesia has 257m.
Free trade agreement with Vietnam
Europe has also recently concluded a free trade agreement with Vietnam, which will come into effect late next year. Vietnam is also part of what is known as the Pacific Rim countries that concluded a trade deal with the US, TPP. As it is an importer of agri-food products rather than an exporter, there can only be positive effects for the EU industry.
Discussions started with Indonesia in July on a similar free-trade deal; again, as this is not a food exporter, it would present no threat to Irish farmers.
In September, the Department of Agriculture and Bord Bia conducted their own Irish trade mission to Vietnam. It is a market that has considerable potential for Irish beef, pork and dairy products, while Indonesia is seen as a potential market for dairy and poultry products; though with a predominantly Muslim population it should have some sheep meat potential as well.
Direct engagement by the Irish Government is essential as, much to the EU’s frustration, neither country deals with the EU as a block. This is something Commissioner Hogan will be trying to address during his mission in his political discussions, which take place in parallel to the businesses meeting potential customers.
Market diversification
He was extremely upbeat in a press briefing ahead of the mission on Friday in Brussels, focusing in particular on the rapidly growing middle class populations in these countries, an ideal target for high value, high quality EU products.
Commissioner Hogan sees these missions as an essential response to the loss of the lucrative Russian market through trade sanctions. For Ireland, with the imminent departure of our main British market from the EU, development of new markets is also essential.
Hogan also a planned mission targeting Turkey in support of live cattle exports, which will be of particular interest to Irish livestock farmers as beef factory prices fell again during the past week.
Read more
Editorial: tough road ahead for new Bord Bia boss
Commissioner Hogan is back on the road next week taking a business delegation from across the EU to Vietnam and Indonesia. Arrabawn co-op and Ornua are the Irish participants on the mission, which runs from Wednesday 2 November until the following Wednesday 9 November.
This will be the third such mission this year following previous visits to China and Japan in April and Colombia and Mexico in February.
Asia is one of the truly developing markets in the world, and while there has been much focus on China, which is already a major customer of Irish dairy and pig meat products, Vietnam has a population of 90m people and Indonesia has 257m.
Free trade agreement with Vietnam
Europe has also recently concluded a free trade agreement with Vietnam, which will come into effect late next year. Vietnam is also part of what is known as the Pacific Rim countries that concluded a trade deal with the US, TPP. As it is an importer of agri-food products rather than an exporter, there can only be positive effects for the EU industry.
Discussions started with Indonesia in July on a similar free-trade deal; again, as this is not a food exporter, it would present no threat to Irish farmers.
In September, the Department of Agriculture and Bord Bia conducted their own Irish trade mission to Vietnam. It is a market that has considerable potential for Irish beef, pork and dairy products, while Indonesia is seen as a potential market for dairy and poultry products; though with a predominantly Muslim population it should have some sheep meat potential as well.
Direct engagement by the Irish Government is essential as, much to the EU’s frustration, neither country deals with the EU as a block. This is something Commissioner Hogan will be trying to address during his mission in his political discussions, which take place in parallel to the businesses meeting potential customers.
Market diversification
He was extremely upbeat in a press briefing ahead of the mission on Friday in Brussels, focusing in particular on the rapidly growing middle class populations in these countries, an ideal target for high value, high quality EU products.
Commissioner Hogan sees these missions as an essential response to the loss of the lucrative Russian market through trade sanctions. For Ireland, with the imminent departure of our main British market from the EU, development of new markets is also essential.
Hogan also a planned mission targeting Turkey in support of live cattle exports, which will be of particular interest to Irish livestock farmers as beef factory prices fell again during the past week.
Read more
Editorial: tough road ahead for new Bord Bia boss
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