Fresh efforts to reopen the beef trade with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are under way following the successful moves last weekend which are expected to bring about the reopening of the Egyptian market.
Earlier this week officials from An Bord Bia travelled to the region to encourage buyers to lift the ban imposed in November last year.
Before the ban was imposed - due to rising levels of BSE on mainland Europe - the Saudi/Gulf region was the second most important market for Irish beef outside the EU. This new business and political initiative is aimed at winning back the market share.
The region imported over 40,000 tonnes of hindquarter beef in 2000, and was the main international market for these cuts and chilled vacuum-pack beef. Despite fierce competition, this market was worth nearly £80 million.
Mr Owen Brooks, An Bord Bia's director of international markets, said yesterday a meeting with importers had been held in the Irish Embassy in Riyadh in an effort to persuade them to follow the Egyptian example.
Meanwhile, at a meeting tomorrow morning, Irish representatives on the EU's beef management committee will seek higher export refunds for Irish beef exporters who can find markets in Egypt and the Saudi/Gulf area.
Industry sources believe the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Fischler, has already given a commitment to increase these export subsidies if markets can be reopened.
Yesterday, Fine Gael's spokesman on agriculture, Mr Alan Dukes, criticised the terms under which beef exporters would have to operate and urged the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, to go back and negotiate "a sensible, workable set of access terms" for the Egyptian market.
A Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development spokesman said there was nothing new in the terms under which the beef market was being reopened other than the BSE testing of the beef concerned.