Farmers in Ireland are hoping to grab a slice of what will soon be the biggest market in the world for beef — China — buoyed by the success of the country’s dairy industry and a Chinese fear of tainted food.
Last year, Ireland became the first country in the European Union to no longer be subject to a ban on exporting beef to China, some 16 years after an outbreak of BSE, or mad cow disease, closed off international markets to the Continent’s farmers.
The vast population difference between Ireland (pop. 4.75 million) and China (pop. 1.4 billion) in particular means even a small part of the beef market there could make a big difference for a country in which agricultural products account for 12.7 percent of exports and 8.5 percent of total employment.
Chinese beef and veal imports rose 670 percent by weight between 2012 and 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It also forecasts that China will become the biggest importer of beef after the United States this year.
By targeting international markets with cattle reared primarily on a resource the Emerald Isle has in abundance — grass — Dublin plans to nearly double its agricultural food exports and create 23,000 jobs by 2025.
But doing so will require the Irish meat industry to convince the Chinese government that nothing can slip through its scrupulous safety system.
‘Green Love Plus’
It’s a message that was driven home in May 2015, when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang toured a family dairy farm in the west of Ireland. Surrounded by vivid green fields, Li gazed politely at black-and-white cattle, as he and his wife Madam Cheng huddled under umbrellas printed with the logo of Ireland’s “Origin Green” sustainability scheme.
The visit was the culmination of years of effort to convince China that Ireland was a trustworthy source for clean food.
Ireland’s overriding competitive advantage in China is low faith in domestic brands, damaged by a series of adulteration scares. The 2008 melamine scandal, for example, in which milk mixed with an industrial chemical sickened thousands of babies and killed six, sent Chinese consumers scrambling to buy foreign-produced formula — providing the Irish dairy industry with an opportunity.
In 2014, Kerry Group, named for the rural county in southwest Ireland where it is headquartered, launched infant formula “Green Love Plus” for the Chinese market. Rival Glanbia, a company whose name means “clean food” in Irish, has built two 7.5 ton milk dryers on the Kilkenny/Waterford border with its eye on rising Asian demand. It says Chinese milk consumption is growing about 20 percent a year.
“Information around grass-fed cows and outdoor grazing in a very clean environment have been very well received,” Glanbia said of its Chinese consumers in a statement to POLITICO.
The figures so far have been small but eye-catching.
Last year, Ireland beat New Zealand to become the second-largest supplier of baby formula to China after the Netherlands, according to the food board. Irish agrifood exports to China almost tripled overall between 2012 and 2015, rising from €238 million to €612 million. This was led by a near four-fold growth in dairy products.
The flow of milk powder helped make China the second-ranked destination for Irish agricultural food products after the EU, according to Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Replicating this success for beef may be tough. Ireland will face fierce competition, not least from New Zealand, another small island nation with big food exports, rolling green fields, and similar ambitions. Other countries — including the rest of the EU — are lobbying to gain access to the market.
Source: Politico
Link: http://www.politico.eu/article/ireland-china-meat-milk-industry-trade/
