NEAR THE entrance to the Haoyue meat processing facility in Changchun, there were 15 cranes working on an enormous apartment complex – not far from a mosque which supervises the halal slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals every year.

“They must have got some of them cranes from Ireland,” quipped one of the beef barons on the bus as we drove past a quarry making traditional Chinese lions. Some of the biggest names in the meat industry were on the bus and the focus was on possibilities for the Irish beef market in this potentially huge market.

China banned Irish and EU beef after the health scares early this century. During Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s visit last month, the Chinese said scientific testing would begin on safety standards, a step on the road to ending the ban. The trade mission saw the establishment of a joint working group on market access for Irish beef to the Chinese market involving the Chinese Inspection and Quarantine Service and the Irish Government.

Cormac Healy, representative of the meat industry in the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation, has hailed the strength of the delegation.

“You have 90 per cent of the processing industry in Ireland – it’s a very strong showing and shows the interest they have to ensure the long term future and to have access to markets like China,” Healy says.

“For beef we are interested to grow the value of output by 40 per cent and we hope volume will grow. We need markets like this to absorb additional production. Pig meat has access already and has shown that trade will follow. That’s why it’s important that it’s a significant level of engagement,” he adds.

“Lamb doesn’t have access yet, but we’re encouraged by the visits. We are pushing a wider market access agenda. On pig meat, Denmark has access all over the world and we see no reason why ours won’t have it too, because we have the food quality and the safety standards. It will bring more jobs back into the sector too,” Healy says.