Hopes are high for Irish beef sales in China, writes Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent, in Beijing
The opening of the Chinese market for Irish beef sales could be hugely significant for Irish agriculture, the beef processor Mr Larry Goodman has said.
Up to now, EU beef, along with meat from the United States, has been banned from China because of BSE fears.
Chinese Prime Minister Mr Wen Jiabao raised the issue of beef sales during his meeting in Beijing on Tuesday with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
"We are taking that as a signal to go for a deal on beef," the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Ms Coughlan, told The Irish Times yesterday.
The sale of pork offal, such as pigs' trotters and stomachs, to China should get under way within nine months, following a deal signed with Beijing on Tuesday.
Offal exports are important for the Irish pig industry, because they are not favoured by Irish consumers: "It isn't appreciated at home, but it is very much appreciated here," the Minister said, though she pointed out that Denmark is already supplying the country.
The opening of the Chinese market for beef could "be very significant", said the Minister, even though the Chinese eat more pork.
"If we could get in it would be a lucrative market for the lower-end cuts of beef which are 'hard to sell' to Irish consumers," she said.
Speaking to The Irish Times in Beijing yesterday, Mr Goodman agreed, saying that he believed the ban could be lifted "within the next 12 months".
Currently, the Chinese beef market is supplied by domestic production and from Australia, New Zealand and South America.
"The market is substantially smaller for beef than pork, but it is growing all the time," said Mr Goodman, who attended an Enterprise Ireland business breakfast for hundreds of Chinese business people yesterday morning.
However, he said China would "be a substantially easier market to crack" than Middle Eastern countries, where infrastructure is poorer.
Ireland has the best chance of any EU member-state of getting an exemption from the ban, he commented.
"It will be difficult for us, but not impossible."
The issue was discussed again yesterday during talks involving the Minister for Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture's chief veterinary officer, Mr Paddy Rogan and Chinese officials.
Meanwhile, the Killorglin, Co Kerry-based financial services company, FEXCO, is bidding for major credit card business in China.
Former minister for foreign affairs Mr Dick Spring, who is now vice-chairman of the company, and other FEXCO executives are holding talks with Chinese banks this week.
The successful Kerry company is hoping to sell credit card software that will allow cardholders to make purchases in their own currency, regardless of the country in which the purchase is made.
"We see China as offering a very big opportunity. It is a growing economy and all of the predictions are that it will continue to grow exponentially over the next few years," Mr Spring told The Irish Times.
China will soon surpass France as a tourist destination, he said. "That will mean that there will be a lot of foreign money being spent in China. We have an interest in that. It is a market that one would ignore at one's peril."
He said the company "has enjoyed exponential growth over the last 24 years. The test for us now is whether we can repeat that. China gives us an opportunity to do so."
Currently, debit cards are more common in China than credit cards, but hundreds of millions of people do not have either: "The big issue here is the scale of the market that is possible."
The Chinese currency, the remimbi, is not accepted outside of the country, bar countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
"Chinese travellers tend to take a dollar credit card with them when they go abroad. But that will change in time. They will want to use their own currency," Mr Spring said.