Visiting officials may help restart of €30m beef export market to Indonesia

THE export of Irish beef to Indonesia, which was worth almost €30 million when the market was closed nine years ago, could be resumed shortly.

Officials from Indonesia are in Ireland to inspect food safety controls. Their itinerary includes visits to meat plants and the Central Veterinary Laboratory. Beef exports to Indonesia were halted in the year 2000 because of the BSE crisis in parts of the European Union. at that time.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Brendan Smith welcomed the visit by veterinarians and public health officials from Indonesia. The visit is hosted by his department and Bord Bia and is part of the continuing efforts to enhance market access for Irish meat.

“It will allow the officials to see at first hand the strict food safety controls that are in place, and will hopefully pave the way for resumption of exports to Indonesia,” he said. Minister Smith said in 2000, the last full year before a ban was imposed, Irish beef exports to Indonesia were valued at €28.6m.

Meanwhile, the minister told Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten in a written reply to a Dáil query that the export trade is an important element of Ireland’s meat and livestock industry providing, as it does, a complement to the beef trade. Live cattle exports to Britain in the first four months of 2009 amounted to almost 26,000 head, over 235% up on the same period last year.

The main reasons for this increase are reduced cattle availability and higher returns on the market, he said.

Mr Smith said Bord Bia continues to work closely with the meat industry on monitoring and developing emerging opportunities for Irish livestock in Britain, the continent and international markets.

“A number of important contacts among British buyers were made during last year’s Beef Expo in Kilkenny and many of these continue to buy stock at pedigree sales,” he said.