After Irish beef officially gained access to the coveted US beef market two weeks ago, it would appear that Irish sheepmeat is closing in on getting access to America.

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney confirmed that US Department of Agriculture officials are set to ease restrictions keeping Irish sheepmeat and lamb out of the lucrative market.

“They [the US] are saying that they are going to change their TSE (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies) rule, which is linked to scrapie,” Minister Coveney said at a Mayo IFA event on Saturday.

“Once that is done, they will look at opening up the US market and you could be absolutely sure that Ireland will be first in line there,” he added.

Demand

The minister added that there was demand from American food buyers during the recent launch of Irish beef on the east coast of the US.

“The clear message we got from meat buyers in New York, in Washington and in Boston last week was that they want to be able to get their hands on Irish sheepmeat and Irish lamb. The quality of US sheepmeat is not anything like the quality it is here.

“There will be a price premium for it, but we need to go through a process to get it into that market,” he added.