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On day two of a trade mission in Japan and South Korea, the Minister for Agirculture Michael Creed has expressed confidence that Ireland will go from selling beef tongue to prime cuts of steak in the highly competitive Japanese market.
The minister was replying to a question from the Irish Farmers Journal after a press briefing for the Japanese agricultural press during the current Bord Bia
Japan currently imports 780,000t of beef a year, made up largely of Australian beef which typically retails at around €20/kg. Traditional Wagyu beef can retail from anything upwards of €150/kg.
Ireland sells the majority of its 30-month-old beef to Japan for roughly €5.50/kg.
The minister said: “50% of beef sells to the UK and 45% to the rest of Europe. At this point in time not a lot of it is traded to third countries, that’s a given. The challenge is around the 300,000t we’re sending into the UK and what the future access will be for that, so it’s prudent to be in all these markets.”
Dairy beef
When asked by the Irish Farmers Journal if the minister felt like the future quality of beef could be jeopardised by recent revelations that dairy beef was having a negative effect on carcase quality, the minister responded that he did not feel it would be an issue for the Irish beef export market as long as farmers focused on meeting targets.
Wagyu beef selling in a high-end supermarket in Japan
The minister also outlined that he felt that the upcoming ratification of the EU-Japan trade deal in the coming year and gradual reduction of beef tariffs from 38.5% to 9% over a 15-year period would help to realise this long-term goal he had for the Irish beef industry.
Thirty-month-old imports to Japan
There was a sharp intake of breath from the assembled Japanese agricultural press when the minister told them he had asked the Japanese government to raise the age limit of imported beef to Japan from 30 months old.
It is a touchy subject for the Japanese as since a BSE incident involving the US a number of years ago, there has been a strict age limit policy on imported beef.
America is the second biggest importer of beef to Japan, with beef imports to the country worth $1.5bn to the US.
The age limit is a sore point for the Americans who have repeatedly requested that it be lifted. Therefore, if Ireland were individually granted the right to import beef over 30 months of age to Japan, it would likely sour relations with one of Japan’s closest trading partners.
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