Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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320. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide the details of any discussions that have been held at political or official level with the Russian authorities in relation to the impact of the ban by Russia on food exports from the European Union; if the importance of the Russian market for pigmeat exports from Ireland has been discussed; the need to have this particular market outlet restored; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30078/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The announcement that the Russian ban on EU food imports will be extended for a further year to August 2016 is extremely disappointing. I have advocated strongly for there to be a clear EU-wide response on resolving this issue and that the Commission’s market support measures, while welcome, must remain under review and be deployed as a key part of the solution for EU producers.

At the Council of Agriculture Ministers meeting this week in Brussels, I joined with other like-minded Ministers from other EU MS in calling on the EU Commission to monitor market developments and fully assess all potential market support measures available for the Irish and EU pigmeat sector. Ireland is committed to continuing to work in partnership with the Russian and EU authorities to help to resolve these issues in any way we can. I have met with the Russian Ambassador to Ireland to impress upon him the importance of resuming normal trade relations in agri-food products. In addition there have been two high-level meetings between my Department and the Russian authorities in recent months at which there has been considerable progress in securing new opportunities for Irish breeding, live animals and genetic technologies. However the restrictions on other products under the EU-wide ban is not something which Ireland alone will resolve and will only be progressed through a common EU approach.

Irish agri-food exports to Russia declined from €213 million in 2013 to €145 million in 2014. Some of this reduction was accounted for by a ban on EU pigmeat imports which came into effect in January 2014, before the Presidential ban on most EU food imports came into effect in August. Exports will obviously be much lower this year as the ban will be in place for the full year, with dairy, fish and pigmeat being the main sectors affected. For the first four months of 2015, agri-food exports to Russia amounted to €15.3 million, an 80% reduction on the same period last year.

However, Irish pigmeat exports internationally in 2014 increased by 12% to 198,000 tonnes compared to the previous year. Increased volumes to the UK, Continental Europe, and Asia offset lower shipments to Russia and some continental European markets. This also meant an increase in value and Irish pigmeat exports rose to over €570m last year. This was helped by increases in exports to key markets such as China and Japan which rose by 20% and 210% respectively as well as securing market access for pigmeat in the Philippines and Vietnam, providing new market opportunities for Irish companies. My Department continues to work with industry to source new and alternative markets internationally for Irish food.

I am undertaking a number of trade missions in the Autumn including to the US, China and Africa which will be a further opportunity to raise the profile of Irish agri-food in these key markets.