The Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) 12th annual Meat Export Conference brought into focus the post-EU referendum opportunities for meat exports.
More than 100 delegates attended the conference in Warwickshire to hear about the developments in international markets and the implications of the UK’s Brexit vote for the meat trade.
AHDB chief executive Jane King opened the conference and described the referendum as a ‘game-changer’ for UK agriculture.
King outlined the priorities for AHDB as being to help levy payers make sense of the issues facing them and to help industry and Government secure the best trading environment for agricultural products.
She said: “Although we cannot understate the importance of the EU single market for UK food businesses, AHDB already has a strong track record in developing markets outside the EU, having successfully worked with Defra and UKTI to secure market access to China for pig meat and India for seed potatoes.
“This area of work will become ever more important once Brexit takes effect.”
AHDB head of livestock exports Jean-Pierre Garnier acknowledged challenges presented by tariff and non-tariff barriers, but pointed to a positive future for exports in both EU and non-EU markets.
“Given Friday’s result, I anticipate there will be three years of rough seas and uncertainty for the UK meat trade,” he said.
“However, our core strengths and unique selling points, such as our natural production systems and the high quality and great taste of our products remain in place and, therefore, the long-term prospects are highly favourable, provided we manage a smooth transition to a new, constructive trading agreement with the EU.”
Dr Phil Hadley, AHDB Beef & Lamb head of global supply chain development highlighted the key role AHDB expertise plays in working with industry and Government to achieve market access approvals, driving wider market opportunities and opening up commercial activity.
Delegates also heard from Karen Morgan, agriculture councillor at the British Embassy in Beijing, who spoke of the ‘Golden Era’ in UK-China relations following President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to the UK. She reiterated, however, that matching the expectations of the UK industry with the level of resource in China will be a key challenge moving forward.
“While there’s still a long way to go, negotiations to gain access for beef to the Chinese market have accelerated faster than expected.
“Steady progress is being made on getting pork processing plant approvals to broaden the number of plants and we are continuing to press for progress in the lucrative trotter market,” she said.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
