Meat Industry Ireland seeks access to US and China
The Ibec body for meat processors, MII has called on the Minister for Agriculture to intensify negotiations to gain full access for Irish beef to the US and China.
MII says an EU oversupply means Irish beef, lamb, pigmeat, and poultry need alternative outlets.
“Across EU markets, strong supplies and weaker demand, plus increasing pressure to favour domestic product in UK and France, has created a more challenging trading environment for Irish exporters,” he said.
“This emphasises the need for a range of markets for Irish exports, enabling companies to maximise market returns through diversifying product options into a wider range of markets.”
The MII director is urging EU member states to take a cautious approach to Mercosur talks with South American countries. He says that failure to strike a deal would be preferable to agreeing to a bad deal.
“MII has consistently warned that a trade deal with Mercosur will be damaging to the Irish meat sector, not only for beef but also for pigmeat and poultry,” said Mr Healy.
“The idea of the EU negotiating with Mercosur on a trade deal that would open the EU market to increased volumes of imports from Brazil and Argentina, two of the world’s largest meat producing countries, would be very damaging to the Irish economy, particularly to the agri-food sector.”
MII says it would be far preferable to prioritise the completion of negotiations with Japan where there is much stronger overall benefit to EU agri-food exports.
