The tender will be split into four lots of 2,500 tonnes destined for four different Turkish cities: Ankara, Adana, Denizli and Sakarya.

Companies interested in participating for one or several lots need to buy the tender participation document from the Meat and Milk Board (ESK). The documents are also available in Turkish on the website of the French food marketing body FranceAgriMer, who first brought the tender to the attention of EU exporters.

Turkey has been a well established market for several years for EU cattle and sheep, though the country imposes tariffs as high as 225% when Turkey feels it has enough supply of its own, and as low as 30% when it is open to imports.

The main suppliers of this market are mainland European countries, with Germany and eastern EU member states particularly active.

It is understood that there are already a few light bull weanlings moving from France to Turkey. These have to be under 350kg to avail of the lower-rate import tariff.

Irish farmers will wait and see whether this market opportunity for carcase beef is taken up by Irish factories. In any case, assuming the volumes tendered are supplied from some EU member states, it will have the effect of providing an alternative market for this amount of beef and in the process create opportunities for all beef suppliers exporting to Europe, including Ireland.