Nearly five years after first expressing an interest, the NI pig industry has at last received final approval for pork to be exported to China.

That comes after provisional approval was granted in November 2015, which followed on from an inspection by Chinese authorities in April of that year. It has been another two years before that provisional approval turned into reality.

According to DAERA, the business could be worth in excess of £10m per year to the NI pig industry. Trade is expected to start in September, once administrative processes are finalised.

The four sites approved in NI are the two main pig factories operated by Karro in Cookstown and Cranswick in Cullybackey. Also now able to export pig product are two coldstores – Granville in Dungannon and Interfrigo in Antrim.

The four NI businesses join three sites in England that have received the most recent approval.

Missed out

The main issue for NI is that factories here missed out on a trade agreement from 2012 that saw nine sites in Britain approved to export pork to China, to include prime cuts and also offal and fifth quarter product. Since then the business has grown significantly in value and was worth £43m in 2016. China is now the largest importer of frozen pork products from the UK. Being outside of the market, the NI industry was at a significant disadvantage.

However, despite having market access, none of the nine original sites were able to export pig trotters to China, considered a popular delicacy in the country. In the latest deal, three companies have now been approved to export trotters, and crucially this includes both Karro and Cranswick in NI.

Previous estimates suggest that the Chinese market for trotters alone could add £2 to the value of a pig carcase in NI, and that wider access to the market could be worth over £4 per carcase.

“The commencement of pork exports to China, including exports of trotters, will represent a major boost for the local pork industry. It will expand markets and secure jobs,” claimed DAERA chief vet Robert Huey, after the announcement was made last week.