Irish beef, sheepmeat and poultry will be eligible for export to Kuwait under a new agreement with the Public Authority for Food and Nutrition of Kuwait.

This follows the announcement in July that Ireland had gained access for the export of beef, sheepmeat and poultry to Qatar.

Irish agri-food exports to Kuwait totalled €17.1m in 2017, of which around 93% is accounted for by dairy exports.

“The opening of this new market is a reflection of the confidence held by the Kuwaiti authorities in the high standards of food safety and the rigorous controls in Ireland,” Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said.

Agri-food links

“It marks another important step in the development of Ireland’s agri-food links with Kuwait and with the whole Gulf region. ”

Ireland previously hosted a visit for Kuwaiti officials in March, led by Sustainable Food Systems Ireland.

“Details on these new markets are being added to the DAFM market access portal, which I launched in May, and a trader notice will issue shortly,” Minister Creed said.

“Growing and developing new markets, a key theme of the Food Wise strategy, is an important response to possible Brexit impacts on the sector,” the minister said.

Reactions

Initial reactions to the announcement have been subdued. ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham welcomed the new market opening, but added that farmers have become sceptical about the impact of such developments on beef prices.

“Currently the price of beef is nowhere near what it needs to be. Processors have been imposing harsh price cuts for weeks now," Graham said. "The opportunity to export to Kuwait will no doubt be great news for them and for all others who make money off the backs of farmers. It is reprehensible that primary producers continually get forgotten with all the hype.”

ICMSA livestock chair Des Morrison, too, recognised the efforts put into opening alternative markets ahead of Brexit but said: "Too often in the past, new markets had been won and opened-up with any benefits seeming to flow exclusively to the exporting factories and no improvement at all in the prices paid to the people who actually produced the beef".

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