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The Department of Agriculture is awaiting a response from Chinese officials on information provided to them from Ireland on a draft report of a Chinese audit of beef plants last year.
A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture told the Irish Farmers Journal that timelines on beef access are not within the control of the Department.
“At the end of last year the Department of Agriculture received a copy of the draft report of the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China (CNCA) audit visit which had taken place in August/September 2017.
“In early 2018, the Department responded to the draft report clarifying a number of issues and included a large volume of supporting documentation.
“Two officials travelled to China for a meeting with CNCA on 9 February 2018,” the spokesperson said.
This meeting was to discuss how the Department intends to comply with the Ireland-China protocol on beef and to ascertain which issues CNCA still required further clarification on.
The spokesperson said that in the course of the meeting clarification was given on a number of issues which CNCA raised and necessary additional information was identified.
That additional information has since been submitted to CNCA.
Final stages
Speaking in response to a parliamentary question this week from TD Willie Penrose, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed, said that his officials "continue to liaise closely with their Chinese counterparts to provide every assurance in relation to the quality and safety of Irish beef.
"We understand that Ireland is now in the final stages of the market access process with China. "However, despite this significant progress, the pace of the opening of the market access will be largely determined by the Chinese authorities and not by my Department," he said.
Outside of the EU market, China has the potential to be the most lucrative export market for Irish beef.
It imported in the region of 1m tonnes of beef in 2017 and an 11% rise is forecast for beef exports this year.
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