China's import of Irish-food exports is estimated around €100m, however, its beef import from the country from January to August 2018 is limited to €432,000.
Michael Creed, the Minister for Agriculture, said that he is "reasonably" happy with the level of beef exports to China. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported that by the end of August 2018 China's Irish beef exports were 260 tons or €432,000.
Ireland is the first European country to participate in China's promising market. Irish beef was marketed in China after the imposed ban was lifted in 2015. In April of this month, the first shipments of the beef reached China.
ABP is the first exporter to ink an agreement in China's market. The company, owned by Larry Goodman, signed a €50 million deal to supply Irish beef to, Wowprime, a known restaurant chain in China. The agreement is the first significant deal made for the Irish beef trade.
Mr. Creed said that he is reasonably pleased with the level of exports considering that they only started trading during the summer. He said that the level of exports indicated that Irish beef traders are starting to gain the Chinese market's trust.
At first, Mr. Creed and Irish beef processors doubted whether to set an actual figure on the potential value of agreements to China. He insisted that he will not announce an actual figure on how much exports they are sending to China. Simon Coveney, Mr.Creed's predecessor, said that the estimated market is worth €100 million annually after the BSE ban was lifted in 2015.
CSO record showed that the total Irish agri-food trade to China was €974 million in 2017. The economic giant is now Ireland's third biggest agri-food exports market. Ireland's dairy export is €667 million and its pork export is estimated above €100millionin 2017. Dairy and pork are the largest food categories exported to China. China is the second biggest importer of the two products.
Coveney said that by gaining access to China, they have opened a very significant beef market for Irish beef companies and it is up to them to grab this opportunity. He added that the average consumption of beef in China is 4 kgs per person in a year. It is significantly lower than Ireland's consumption which is 19 kgs of beer per person per year. China's total beef imports are around 600,000 tons in 2016.
