The relatively new Asian markets of Hong Kong and the Philippines remain strong markets for Irish beef in October. The 2,548t of beef shipped to Hong Kong made it the fourth most important market for Irish beef in volume although it was down on the 2,912t that was shipped in September. The Philippines showed growth in October compared with September, rising from 1,532t in September to 1,818t in October.

While these have been the big growth markets in 2017 so far, Britain and mainland Europe remain the main destinations. Britain took 23,112t of Irish beef in October, which was down from 24,100t in September. France was also down slightly from 5,105t in September to 4,926t in October but is still Ireland’s second most important export market.

The Netherlands remained the third most important market, taking 3,848t in October which was also slightly down from the 4,002t in September. Sweden took 2,243t in October, similar to September and the fifth most important market coming behind Hong Kong.

The USA, which has been the target of huge effort by Government and Bord Bia, remains a struggle for volume sales. They took 171t in October, which was in fact the highest monthly volume since May.

Even though manufacturing beef has been approved for export for some time now, there is little interest in this market from Irish exporters. This is because it is a difficult market to serve as well. The UK, Europe and increasingly Asia have been more attractive markets from a price perspective so far in 2017.

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