Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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42. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number and location of trade visits he and officials from his Department have undertaken or are scheduled to undertake including his forthcoming visit to Indonesia and Malaysia for the specific purpose of identifying new markets for Irish agrifood products most likely to be affected by Brexit; the value to the economy of already identified or to be identified new markets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41481/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The pursuit and development of new markets for Irish agri-food exports is of course an ongoing and central component of the strategic development of the agri-food sector, as evidenced by its placement right at the centre of Food Wise 2025, the industry’s strategy for development over the coming decade. Food Wise 2025 outlines the huge potential for growth in agri-food exports to new and emerging markets, particularly in Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Gulf region. This is where our efforts will be focused for the foreseeable future, particularly given the need to diversify our markets and to reduce our reliance on traditional destinations such as the UK.

Trade missions, of course, play a crucial role in market development, not just in terms of the valuable opportunity that they provide for businesses to make contacts and develop relationships, but also in terms of their usefulness in developing political and official contacts, which are often just as important in facilitating business development and resolving market access issues. For this reason they are an essential component of the suite of measures that I and my Department deploy in our efforts to develop more opportunities for Irish agri-food exporters.

In the last two years I have led a series of very successful trade missions. In 2017, destinations included the Gulf States, the US, Mexico, Japan and South Korea. In the case of the latter two, this was an ideal opportunity to exploit the benefits to be derived from the EU's recent trade and economic partnership agreements with South Korea and Japan.

This work has continued in 2018. I have already led trade missions to the US, Canada and China, and my Department is currently making the final arrangements for a further trade mission to Indonesia and Malaysia at the end of October. Again this will include participants from across the agri-food sector and will feature extensive trade contacts as well as high-level political discussions. Both of these markets had been identified by my Department as offering huge potential to the Irish agri-food sector.

These and the other missions that my Department are planning for the first half of 2019 will serve to enhance and improve our existing levels of market access in these destinations. It will also promote Ireland’s reputation as a producer of high quality, safe and sustainably produced meat and dairy products. The destinations are also in keeping with the recent market prioritisation exercise that was completed by Bord Bia at my request. This exercise identified opportunities in new and more mature markets, and will provide valuable market intelligence both for industry operators and policy makers.

It is also no coincidence that the destinations that have we recently visited and plan to visit are now some of the countries showing the greatest increase in growth, with the value of exports to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Central/South America standing at almost €2.8 billion in 2017. The value of trade to these markets increased by 159% since 2009. These markets now account for over 20% of total agri-food exports.

Growth to emerging markets has been led by Asia, with exports of €1.6 billion in 2017, of which around €1 billion went to China. Exports to other Asian markets grew by 85% since 2012 to €659 million in 2017. Trade to Africa has also grown to €606 million, while exports to the Middle East have also grown significantly, to reach €370 million.

My Department will continue to seek out and identify new markets, and I am ready to respond as appropriate to other opportunities that may arise.