The market for Irish beef exports will soon benefit from expanded trade in Saudi Arabia, this is according to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue. In addition to this the Minister has confirmed the formal removal of restrictions on meat products from cattle aged over 30 months.
In February, Minister McConalogue met with the leadership of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) during a trade mission to the Gulf Region. Following that meeting department officials engaged with the SFDA to finalise the necessary technical details and removal of the age-related requirement from the existing export health certificate for beef.
In marking the success of the talks the Minister says the announcement is particularly important as it comes as a direct result of the progress achieved during the in-person trade mission to the Gulf region. McConalogue adds that he looks forward to pursuing further access achievements in target markets in the programme of ministerial trade missions planned for the coming months.
The Department is ambitious that the market could become an important one for beef exporters which will benefit the incomes of world-class beef farmers.
Meanwhile, the Minister McConalogue is expected to travel to China later this year in an effort to push for the resumption of Irish beef exports to the country. There has been a ban on Irish beef imports in China since May 2020, following an atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) case in a dead cow in Co. Tipperary. Ireland has since been granted negligible risk status for BSE by the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE).