‘Trusting in Trade’ at the IMS World Meat Congress

The IMS World Meat Congress took place earlier this month and brought together beef, pork, lamb and veal industry leaders to discuss key issues affecting the international meat and livestock sector.Based on the theme of ‘Trusting in Trade,’ many professionals from around the world attended, including Livestock and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland (LMC) chief executive Ian Stevenson and chairman Gerard McGivern.Both industry representative shared their thoughts on the congress with Meat Management:Ian Stevenson:

“The congress provided an excellent opportunity to engage with likeminded professionals from around the world and affirms that there is more that unites us globally in championing the meat industry than separates us.“We also heard that the global consumption of sheep meat is rising, but most demand growth is coming from developing countries and we must be alive to the possible disruptive effects of Brexit uncertainties, China domestic supply and volatile import demand, regulatory burden and trade disruption.“As the world’s largest producer of beef, and the fourth largest consumer of beef per capita, the US was an excellent host venue for the 2018 congress.”Gerard McGivern:

“With some 48 countries represented, the WMC attracted almost 800 industry leaders to discuss and debate a wide range of common issues facing the global red meat sector.“These included animal welfare, climate change and the environment, emergence of synthetic ‘meats,’ technology and innovation, food security genomics and ever changing consumer trends.“In an era of growing protectionism and nationalism, delegates were united in the desire of the red meat industry to show leadership and determination to promote global co-operation and to feed the world through global free trade.”

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.