Irish beef exports are now well established in the Chinese market a year after the first commercial shipments began.

According to CSO export figures, 745t of Irish beef was exported to China in June, which is 178t more than the 567t exported in May. This brings the total Irish exports to China for the first half of 2019 to just over 3,000t.

This is an encouraging start to business with the world’s biggest importer of beef. At present, there are just seven Irish beef factories approved to export frozen beef to China though there are a further 12 factories awaiting an approval inspection which is expected to take place in the coming weeks.

Conditions

Irish exports of beef to China are restricted to frozen beef cuts from cattle under 30 months and if approval was obtained to have offal included it, along with the further 12 factories, would mean the volume of Irish beef exported to China would grow quickly and considerably.

For farmers in the north, exports to China could also grow quickly as their approval process will be delegated to the competent authority, DEFRA/DAERA and the Food Standards Agency. This is unlike the Irish approval process where inspections of individual factories have to be carried out by the Chinese authorities, not DAFM.

US

Elsewhere, after three years of little progress, exports to the US are showing some promise in 2019. In the most recent figures available from USDA, 3,212t of Irish beef have been exported up to 8 March, which is double the volume for the same period in 2018.