Egypt's ambassador to Ireland has asked authorities in Cairo to treat Irish beef imports as a special case, following Tuesday's announcement that the country's ban on EU beef imports will continue for a further four months.
Mr Ashraf Rashed said he had been telling the authorities for some time that control measures in Ireland had been in place earlier and were different from those in many EU countries.
"We are trying to set in place arrangements for a delegation to come and see things on the ground," he told The Irish Times yesterday. "We have been to the department and different authorities, making the facts clear. I am urging them and also the Department (of Agriculture) is urging them to look at the situation on its own," he said.
A delegation is expected here within seven weeks and the ambassador said he expected an objective review. He was optimistic about the outcome.
Egypt is the biggest non-EU market for Irish beef, worth £200 million (#254 million) annually and accounting for around 60 per cent of exports to non-EU countries.
Mr Michael Duffy, Bord Bia's chief executive, said yesterday that Egypt was a priority. "It's a very important market, particularly towards the back-end of the year. It needs to open for the autumn. That is the timescale we are working to," he said.
A further setback for Ireland on international markets was the failure of a US delegation, due to review its ban on pigmeat from Ireland, to arrive. The US and Japan, still closed following the foot-and-mouth outbreak, are our most important non-EU markets for pigmeat.
A Department of Agriculture spokesman said the US market - which still takes other food products under certification - can resume as soon as the delegation makes its decision.
Meanwhile a decision is expected today on the expansion of the purchase for destruction scheme for cattle. Since the beginning of this scheme, some 6,000-7,000 animals have been destroyed each week. The Department of Agriculture is expected to increase the number of cattle which may be slaughtered, but the price paid to farmers is expected to be reduced by about 5 per cent.
