On his visit to Colombia and Mexico this week, European Commissioner for Agricuture Phil Hogan will be accompanied by a delegation of 34 companies and producer organisations from 14 EU member states.

Aurivo and Ornua are the only two Irish companies included in this delegation. Aurivo will visit both countries, while Ornua will only visit Mexico.

Opportunity

The aim of the visit is to open up new markets for EU agri-food products. Non-tariff barriers for pigmeat and dairy are top of the agenda.

Hogan expects the visit to be “intense and valuable” in terms of opportunities:

“The Colombian and Mexican markets are thriving and provide good potential for the dairy, pigmeat, fruits and vegetables, spirits and wine sectors. I look forward to building up on our existing trade agreements and showing that Europe is open to business, in particular for agri-food products,” he said ahead of the trip.

Opportunities for pigmeat and dairy

Hogan wished to promote European exports of pigmeat and dairy to Mexico, with only a handful of EU member states authorised to export pork and pigmeat products.

Industry sources say both sides are in the process of securing better market access for European pork to Mexico’s 122m consumers, according to Agrafacts.

“Despite very high tariffs for dairy (up to 60%) in some cases, EU exporters still see opportunities as it is only 80% self-sufficient and is reliant on dairy products to satisfy domestic demand,” it reported.

In Colombia, access was eased for EU farm imports after Bogotá recognised the EU control system as equivalent to its own for a number of animal and plant product exports.

New markets

Irish exports to Central and South America were up 6% in 2015, according to Bord Bia, showing a growing demand for Irish produce. Mexico is Ireland’s largest food and drink trading partner in Latin America.

In 2013, total Irish food and drink exports to Mexico were valued at €48.5m. Dairy was the largest export category in 2013 with a total value of €29.2m, growing almost 10% from the previous year. Prepared food exports totalled €14.8m in 2012, with milk powder being the leading product in this category.

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