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Phelim O'Neill (PON) – I am joined by Minister Michael Creed at the opening of the Irish stand at SIAL Shanghai. Minister, it is busy here this morning, you must be basking in the glory of finally getting access to China for beef?
Minister Creed (MC) – When we talk about going on a trade mission, many people wonder what it involves. Here we are at SIAL Shanghai and to put that in context, we are in a hall that is about the size of Croke Park. There are 13 halls of this size and there will be 110,000 buyers that will go through here to 70 different countries that are exhibiting. We are here as we are a food-producing nation that is exporting to 180 different countries around the world. This is the most-populated country in the world, with one in every seven consumers living here, and there is a growing middle class here that really want our products. That’s what is important. It is not a case of basking in the glory, but grafting, working with the industry and working at a political level. I met a number of Chinese ministers already and these are the people that are the gatekeepers to getting our product on the shelves here. I met the minister for agriculture and the minister for customs control and I feel we made good progress there. This could be really important for us – it already is in value terms for a series of products and beef now is the new story. I think it will drive our exports significantly.
There is an emerging middle class here that are moving towards western dietary habits
PON – Where do you see the potential here; how big can it be for the beef industry?
MC – Commentators may be frustrated at my answer to this, but the industry now has access for frozen beef. What I would like to do, and I have raised it with the relevant authorities here, is expand the product range we can put in [to China] to bone-in beef and to chilled beef. There is an emerging middle class here that are moving towards western dietary habits on protein consumption and we can play a significant part in that. To put a value on that – let us see in 12 months - but I think it will be substantial.
PON – On the access for the businesses, you have indicated that there are three more Irish beef factories that have been approved. When will we know who they are?
MC – As you know, there are a number of plants that have already been approved and there is one pork plant and three additional beef plants to be approved shortly. I would hope that will happen within a matter of weeks and there are two others that remain in the process. We have good relationships now and I believe the plants will be in a position to meet whatever the Chinese requirements are.
PON – Will we continue to see the energy to get all factories approved, because the only way that all Irish farmers get the benefit from access for beef to China is if their local factory is included? Will the energy be committed by your department and your team to see this through to a conclusion?
MC – This requires energy all round - my department is very proactive in looking for this approval. The spec the Chinese want will be communicated to those that may need to do some additional work. So I think that yes, we can get them all approved. It may take some work by individual plants as well as us making representations to the Chinese authorities, but, look, there was concern when we had the initial tranche approved and now there is more. There is a process here and my ambition would be to see all plants that want access to the Chinese markets meeting the requirements for that market and getting approval.
The point I would make is that in this market there is enough for everybody
PON – The Irish meat industry has successfully exported to all countries that we have had access to in the past, but has a tradition of sometimes being its own greatest competitor. Is there anything you can do as we go into this new market in China, a blank page with the chance to populate it as we see fit; can we do anything in Ireland to make sure our individual companies don’t undermine each other in developing that market?
MC – The point I would make is that in this market there is enough for everybody. It is quite extraordinary getting our head around the scale of it, the population and consumption. We cannot tell these companies not to compete with each other, the marketplace is a rough place and it is survival of the fittest. Whereas we will help the industry in terms of brand Ireland, individual companies will have to compete in the trenches out there for business and that is the way it is and it wouldn’t be for me to get into that level of commercial detail.
PON – Final point minister, the sheep sector at home isn’t particularly happy with the introduction of electronic tagging. You have indicated that you have started the process of getting approval for sheepmeat to get access to China. How long do you expect this process to take and when can farmers start to see some benefit from going the extra mile with electronic identification?
MC – The beef approval has taken a number of years and in that process we have built good relationships and credibility with the Chinese authorities. So I would hope that would stand to us in a process that has just begun now in terms of sheep access, but I would be reluctant to put a time line on it, but we won't leave any stone unturned in terms of our efforts. I think in the context of the question you ask about EID, that has been raised with us as an access issue in other markets and if it becomes an issue here then we would expect that by the time it becomes an issue, we have the perfect answer.
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