Irish soft power not working for beef in China

Minister Martin Hayden told the Irish Farmers Journal this week that basically we have done all we can and it is now up to China when it readmits Irish beef exports following the BSE suspension in May 2020.

It is ironic that for the first half of 2020, China imported more beef from Ireland than it has from the USA, yet when we look at the figures for the first half of 2022, it is a dramatically different picture.

According to Chinese import data, just over 80,000t of beef was imported from the US for the first half of the year, compared with none from Ireland. In the first half of 2020, China imported 6,458t from Ireland and just 6,098t from the US.

Thawing

There was a thawing in the trade relationship between the US and China in January 2020, with then-President Trump agreeing a limited deal which allowed a resumption of exports in bigger volumes.

However, diplomatic relations between the US and China would hardly be described as ideal, whereas the Irish Government takes pride in building international relations through being a friend to all.

In the case of China, this hasn’t worked, because as the minister correctly said, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Marine (DAFM) officials have done all they can to address and answer Chinese concerns. It is now a political decision.

Why does it matter so much?

Looking at factory prices over the past year, farmers may be inclined to think we have managed okay without China.

However, the way to get the best value from a beef carcase is to have access to every possible market in the world, so that all the individual component parts that make up the carcase secure the highest value.

The fact that China went from a standing start two years ago for the US as an export market to 80,000t in the first six months of 2022 shows that it is a market with serious growth potential.

This confirms the widely-held Irish belief when the market opened that it would quite quickly become our second-most important export market after the UK.

This is also supported by overall Chinese beef import data. In the first six months of 2022, China imported 1.152m tonnes of beef, fractionally ahead of the 1.133m tonnes imported in the same period last year.

After a decade of exceptional growth, the market has levelled off, though has still shown a marginal growth despite a COVID-19 lockdown for much of the early part of 2022.

International traders report that the market is currently buoyant and a strong second half of the year is expected.

More competition coming to UK market

It is also important for Irish farmers to broaden the portfolio of customers, given the post-Brexit changes in the UK.

There is growing concern in UK farming circles about the trade deals made with Australia and New Zealand that will come into effect later this year or early 2023 at the latest.

If British farmers are concerned, Irish farmers are in a much more exposed place, being the current preferred supplier of imported beef (and lamb).

Whatever impact Australian and New Zealand beef has on the beef trade in the UK, the biggest impact will be felt by Irish suppliers, as the import market is their target, not domestic UK production.

Ireland doesn’t yet have approval for South Korea and progress in Japan has been slow in the face of strong US and Australian competition. China was the market that had showed real potential prior to the suspension in May 2000.