IFA: ‘Opportunity’ for cattle trade with Turkey
Livestock committee chairman Henry Burns has called on the acting Agriculture, Food, and Marine Minister, Simon Coveney, to prioritise negotiations in agreeing the access arrangements with the Turkish authorities.
Mr Burns said the opportunities are considerable. Turkey imported a total of 380,000 head of live cattle in 2015. The majority came from South America with more than 120,000 head from France.
“Turkey is a high-priced beef market and is capable of being a substantial and competitive buyer of Irish livestock,” he said.
Mr Burns said Turkish importers have indicated to the IFA that the market will import up to 500,000 head of live cattle in 2016. With the presence of bluetongue disease in France, they are now looking to Ireland as a major EU supplier of cattle.
He said senior veterinary officials from Turkey visited Ireland last Christmas and were very satisfied with our livestock, conditions and controls.
The immediate requirement in Turkey would be for younger stock, mainly bull weanlings up to 12 months of age and up to 300kg from the suckler herd.
Mr Burns said that, so far this year, Irish live exports head are up 34% on 2015 at 23,926. Exports of calves to Holland and Spain have been strong, which is very important at this time of the year when Irish calves are available. Exports to Italy and the North are also positive.
“Considering the increase in cattle supplies forecasted for the second half of 2016, it is vitally important that the live export trade is prioritised at the highest levels and all possible markets are opened and pursued to the maximum,” he said.
Meanwhile, France’s livestock export woes increased yesterday when its agriculture ministry announced that a case of BSE, the first in the country since 2011, had been confirmed in a five-year-old cow in the northeastern region of the Ardennes, near the Belgian border.
The ministry called the occurrence “isolated” and said consumers were not at risk while the Paris-based veterinary watchdog, the World Organisation for Animal Health, said the latest case did not point to any rebound in the disease.
