Market access for more Irish beef plants featured prominently in talks between senior Department of Agriculture officials and their Chinese counterparts on Friday.

It was also agreed that access for sheepmeat to China would be the priority for 2019.

In a statement, the Department said “productive technical meetings” were held in Beijing with officials from two key Chinese ministries; the General Administration of Customs China (GACC) and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA).

This meeting is the latest in a series of engagements which most recently saw Chinese Minister for Agriculture Han Changfu visit Ireland.

He met with Minister Michael Creed and also toured a series of Irish beef and sheep farms.

Department of Agriculture meets with key market access officials in Beijing. \ DAFM Twitter

Beef

Currently, six Irish beef plants have access to the Chinese market.

Department officials have now submitted a further tranche of detailed applications from Irish beef plants for approval to export frozen boneless beef to China.

The Department said it had prioritised the approval process for additional plants “at the request of Irish industry”.

It said the industry saw a significant opportunity on the Chinese market if the supply side increased, enabling them to fill larger orders and export greater volumes.

Sheepmeat

On the sheepmeat side, Ireland had previously submitted a detailed questionnaire at the request of GACC.

Chinese authorities will now review the questionnaire and the next steps will include an inspection visit to Ireland.

Chinese officials highlighted the importance their government placed on the Chinese Import and Export Expo happening next week.

Minister of State Andrew Doyle will attend the expo on behalf of the Department of Agriculture and Bord Bia will also be present.

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