In 2015, Ireland became the first and only EU state to get UDSA FSIS approval, leading to the opening of a valuable market opportunity for our beef sector.

“Six Irish plants were approved in 2015,” said Brendan Gleeson from the Department of Agriculture. “We saw exports of €11m from February to December and beef intended for grinding will be the next step.”

Gleeson was also hopeful on securing the long-awaited approval of exporting beef for grinding. He said his Department is currently working on addressing a USDA audit and he hopes to have this returned by the end of January 2016.

“We feel there is some momentum behind this now that is positive and I am reasonably optimistic that something will happen in the first half of this year,” said Gleeson.

Also on the opportunities in the US Kevin Grier, Market Analyst and Consulting Inc, said that opportunities remain in the US market despite a recovery in the breeding herd and a higher calf crop coming on stream.

The Department also confirmed that a visit from Chinese inspectors is imminent which is the next step in securing Irish beef exports.

Sheepmeat

In relation to the potential for sheepmeat exports to the US, Gleeson said a ban on all European sheepmeat due to TSE restriction is the main problem in getting the market to opened. There is, however, some optimism that market access could be secured quicker than initially anticipated.

Gleeson said Ireland is among a number of countries being fast-tracked.

“The fundamental problem with sheepmeat is TSE,” said Gleeson. “ The Commission has agreed with USDA that they are going to try and get it [the TSE ban lift] fast-tracked and Ireland is one of those countries.”

What this means for the industry is that Ireland will be able to pursue the approval process which started with a letter of interest sent to the US authorities on 1 December 2015. This will not mean overnight results but Gleeson said he was confident that it would shorten the initial target of 2017 with progress hopefully made on the removal of TSE rule in 2016.

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