A Dutch meat processor became the first European veal slaughterhouse to gain access to the Chinese market for veal last week. Ekro, a subsidiary of the VanDrie Group, has been approved to export boneless veal to China after 17 years of negotiations. The first order has reportedly been shipped already. While the market has only opened to veal from calves born in the Netherlands, the Van Drie group is a buyer of Irish calves.

“I think it will be a very important market for us, because on the world market we are in every place but we couldn’t get access to China because of the BSE in the past,” Henny WA Swinkels, director of corporate affairs at Van Drie Group, told the Irish Farmers Journal at SIAL in Paris this week.

Volume

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“It is not easy to say what the volume will be. We can deliver a lot. For the first five to 10 years, there is no limit.”

The Van Drie Group slaughters approximately 50,000 Irish-born calves and 450,000 German-born calves each year.

“We like Irish calves because they are very healthy animals and your farmers are professionals in how to rear the little calves,” he said.

He added that there will be a challenge in educating the Chinese consumer around how to cook veal.