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THE TAOISEACH HAS welcomed Japan’s decision to reopen its market to Irish beef.
Irish farmers will now be able to send their produce to the island nation for the first time since 2001.
The announcement was made during Enda Kenny’s trade mission to the Pacific Ocean country. He is being accompanied by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney and the pair met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo over the weekend.
Bord Bia estimates that the short-to-medium-term opportunity for Irish beef in Japan is worth between €12 and €15 million, with potential for significant expansion beyond that over time.
Coveney said that the decision to allow access for Irish beef to Japan was “very significant” and reflected confidence in the integrity of Irish food systems.
“Japan is a sophisticated market with sophisticated consumer, who are seeking beef product which Ireland can provide. Japan also sets a benchmark for food safety standards, and for that reason access for Irish beef is very significant from a reputational point of view,” he added.
Talks to overturn the 12-year-ban had been ongoing between the two governments since 2011.
Meanwhile, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association has warned that all is not well in the beef sector.
According to the beef chairman at the organisation, there is an emerging crisis of confidence linked to difficulties in getting young bulls slaughtered.
“The focus of the anger is not just about the fact that beef price is showing no signs of improvement, it is about the apparent lack of interest in cattle,” said Edmond Phelan.
“Finishers who have specialised in young bulls are getting the signal that they are not wanted but this poses a real problem for quality cattle coming from the suckler herd.
“The meat industry has been messing around for a while now saying that they want young bulls slaughtered at under 16 months,” he continued. “The reality is that heavy continental weanlings cannot be economically finished at that age given the cost of feed inputs on Irish farms and allowing for the fact that our strength is growing grass.
“Teagasc research confirms that 16 month bull beef is not economical. Farmers with bulls are discovering that there is just no point in buying them if there is this ongoing doubt about what is wanted. What is really frustrating is that factories forget all this as soon as beef gets scarce.”
He added that any talk of increased output under the Food Harvest 2020 initiative is “very foolish”.
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Well done Enda. Getting real tangible results for the country! :)
Irish farmers are the laziest in Europe. They don’t produce a lot. Other than milk and meat. Get lots of handouts.
Im going to get into troll farming as there seems to be a great market on the journal for them
Nice jumper farmer!!!
thanks troll
Is that the best you can come up with little man…. don’t like the truth.
Red is not your colour.
little man??come out from behind your fake account and have a debate like a real man
Clashes with your eyes.
Poor ol marc gettin owned here…
The rural bashers are always out. Nothing else to do. Bogger off the lot of them.
Marc not coming off too well in that exchange. I half expected him to call someone a poo-poo head and storm off. Trolls are terrible quality of late.
When you call someone a troll because of a comment you disagree with you already lost it.
Marc you’d be best going off and doing a little research into Irish food production and exports and compare it to other countries . It would be a much better use of your time than fashion advice…
@Marc, Ireland is the only country in the EU that produces more food than it consumes, they produce 10x what is required to feed the country, so when the world economy collapses’ the irish farmer will keep you fed!!
Milk and beef? Don’t eat either. Irish produce is expensive. Cheaper to buy outside Ireland. Yes.
Country Irish and fashion needs all the help it can get. Stop getting mammy to buy you clothes :)
‘Laziest in Europe’? Agriculture is Ireland’s largest indigenous sector, not bad with the average of a farmer at 55. Agfood contributes €24 billion to the economy annually. Over €9 billion in exports alone in 2012. Milk and meat is exactly what we produce. What would you prefer we produced Marc??
How ya Marty – Nice Jumper – is that made from Rossie sheep?
no its made from chopped up mayo jerseys mahon
The reindeer on your jumper looks a bit like Conor Mortimer alright
You look lovely with your little smiley face. Strike a pose.
Thanks Marc your a true gent
Thanks Martin. Hugs and kisses.
Obviously an expert on the topic!
You should head off n suck on a nice Cyprus lemon marc, I hear they’re cheap and made by very energetic farmers!!
Ill suck one if you suck one.
Fantastic work by Enda he really is playing a blinder :)
Yea but he will never beat you at trolling
Wow well done Enda a whole 15 million a year I wonder how much the Japanese will be exporting to us?
Good news but kind of ironic the Japanese lift their ban and guess where Enda is? Of course, its a great opportunity to look good and no doubt Enda will be grinning from ear to ear while probably claiming he physically lifted the ban himself.
it’s about “face” in lots of Asian cultures – the fact the leader (I know it’s only enda, and hard to describe him as that) paid enough interest to fly over to Japan probably helped
MOOOve over the Irish are on the way
We are always been told how great Irish food is , yet every second country seems to have some ban on our produce due to health and safety issues. Clearly it not as good as we would like to think.
Delusions of Grandeur
After Fukushima they probably don’t see a point in banning foreign food for fear that other nations will ban Japanese produce.
Many countries banned Irish beef because of BSE. Some continue to ban it supposedly for health reasons but mostly to protect their domestic producers. Irish beef is among the best in the world.
The problem with irish beef from what I can see is that some farmers keep cattle in terrible fields with low quality grass and some farmers keep cattle in great fields with top quality grass.
You just don’t know what type you are buying in the butchers.
I can’t claim to know much about the beef industry but didn’t the horse meat scandal exposure the fact that a lot of our Irish beef was in fact imported ?
What do you mean by a lot?
We are I think the 6th biggest beef exporter in the world. Most of the meat from that scandal was in cheap processed foods that large stores like Tesco etc have made and imported.
Ok seanie but there was still Irish meat processing companies claiming it was Irish beef but there was in fact meat in there imported from Eastern Europe tho ?
How much is a lot Catherine?
If memory serves me it was Dutch and Polish sources.
If it wasn’t the very strict testing that only Ireland carries out the horse meat would still be passed as Beef all over Europe.
I think that the rest of Europe didn’t look because they don’t want to see.
Its mad we send over our biggest bullshit merchant ever to Japan and low and behold Irish beef is back on the menu there…
Trojan work Enda Kenny….
More good news for the farmers. This and the handouts they got this week from the EU. Will be a good christmas.
I suppose Enda has nothing to do with this and deserves no credit….but hey of a factory is laying off workers it must be his fault…
Ah yeah, sure this was only decided on the occasion of his ‘imposing’ presence and not through any previous, painstaking negotiation!!
The Irish cattle and sheep farmers association say all is not well!! Must be looking for more handouts….
You seem to know a lot about handouts Marc
Meaty story !
At last he actually has done something.
I pay a lot of taxes to subsidise those that do nothing. I know viking drywall very well. Was in calgary last week. Very cold.
Marc,
Tell us please where you ate beef better than Irish Beef? In general if you are eating Irish Meat (aged properly) it is as good as out there for the money…
Very few countries can offer the grass fed diet?
But I have to complain that the standard of trolling in Ireland is very poor.
Marc, I’m pretty confident you do not pay a lot of taxes.
Says the layabout. Did you just fall out of bed?
I think you’ve done enough digging for one day. Put down the keyboard and go outside.
Digging? Some people just don’t like to hear the truth. Im not here to make friends or be popular looking for thumbs up. Like some losers. Im not that insecure.
Thats why you didn’t answer my question?
Truth hurts….
Sorry Jack do you feel left out? New Zealand. And for the record I never said anything about the quality of Irish beef. Good or bad!!!
No Marc you’re here to troll! Kinda sad really!
Keeping you interested
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