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The Department of Agriculture and Egyptian authorities have agreed a veterinary certificate for the export of live weanlings from Ireland to Egypt. It extends the certificate that was agreed in January 2016, covering the export of slaughter-weight Irish cattle to that country.
No heavy cattle have been exported to Egypt under that certificate and exporters suggest that export of younger, feeder-weight cattle is a better prospect.
Department of Agriculture officials have been engaged in negotiations for a certificate for young cattle for the past year.
The agreement is due to be announced shortly by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed. Egypt agreed a similar health certificate with France in recent weeks.
IFA livestock chair Angus Woods said that agreement on the veterinary certificate is good news for the livestock sector:
“We have been working on getting the health certificate in place with Egypt and this now increases the possibility of a resumption of live exports.”
However, quarantine remains an issues for live exports to Egypt, as the costs involved are excessive, he said.
The IFA is anxious for Minister Creed to include a visit to Egypt as part of his autumn schedule on market access.
“This is very important in terms of the efforts to get the trade resumed,” Woods said.
A consignment of heavy bulls shipped by Purcell Brothers arrived in Turkey in healthy condition on Tuesday after a voyage of just eight days.
The boat now being used by the firm – the Alondra – sails faster than that used for earlier shipments.
The firm has now begun quarantine on another batch of over 3,000 weanlings, which will be shipped at the end of the month.
Following that, the firm will have another 5,000 young cattle to find to fill its 20,000 head contract. The contract was initially to be filled by the end of June and Purcell Brothers obtained extensions of this deadline.
The Turkish minister for agriculture raised this with European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan when the latter was in Turkey on a trade mission, the Irish Farmers Journal understands.
The next shipment to leave for Turkey is likely to be 2,200 heifers, which Co Limerick based exporter John Hallissey will ship later this month.
‘Factories not delivering an attractive price will see more cattle exported’
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