The certificate is valid for chilled of frozen beef from cattle of any age, born and raised in the UK, and covers carcase parts only – excluding offal and processed fats.

The document was expected since a formal agreement was announced in August, allowing British beef into the country for the first time since the 1996 BSE crisis. Individual factories must obtain an import permit from the Filipino authorities before shipping products.

100m customers

The Philippines’ 100m-strong population offers a promising market, with modern supermarkets gaining an increasing foothold in a country that until recently was served mostly by backyard butchery operations. A relatively low 10% tariff applies to beef imports.

The UK beef industry estimates that exports to the Philippines will be worth £34m in the next five years. In its latest beef outlook report, the AHDB noted "strong international demand for forequarters and other cheaper cuts, especially from the Philippines," with a positive impact on prices, but added that this had not benefited UK export volumes overall. Direct access to the Filipino market is likely to help British exports here.

Beef from the Republic of Ireland has been successful in the Philippines, with more than 10,000t exported in the first half of this year – more than double the shipments recorded during the same period last year. There was 20 times more Irish beef exported to the Philippines than to the US in the first four months of this year.

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Big opportunities for NI beef in Philippines