The Cook Government’s Minister for Agriculture and Food is leading the first Western Australian delegation of its kind to the United Kingdom, which includes some of the State’s major sheep meat and cattle producers.

• Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis is leading the first Western Australia delegation of its kind to the United Kingdom
• Minister Jarvis and major WA sheep meat companies will visit Smithfield Market, one of the largest wholesale meat markets in Europe
• The mission will also include meetings with the UK’s Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries and stakeholders from the UK’s biggest supermarkets

The Cook Government’s Minister for Agriculture and Food is leading the first Western Australian delegation of its kind to the United Kingdom, which includes some of the State’s major sheep meat and cattle producers.

The purpose of the ‘red meat mission’ is to establish strong relationships with UK market buyers and unlock new trade opportunities for WA farmers.

During the seven-day mission, Minister Jarvis will lead two WA sheep meat companies on a tour of the Smithfield Market, one of the largest wholesale meat markets, in Europe and meet with traders and buyers.

Fletcher International Exports, V & V Walsh and Pardoo Wagyu are looking to leverage the favourable provisions within the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement to establish or enhance their presence in the UK market.

The delegation will have the opportunity to meet with local experts to further understand overseas supply chains and market entry requirements.

Minister Jarvis is also set to meet with the Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries, the Right Honourable Mark Spencer MP, as well as the British Meat Processors Association, the International Meat Traders Association and Meat and Livestock Australia.

In addition, the delegation will attend the International Food & Drink event (IFE) in London, which will serve as a hub for more than 27,000 buyers for the UK’s entire food, drink, and hospitality supply chain – including stakeholders from Tesco, Marks & Spencer and British Airways.

The Cook Government will have a stand at the event to support WA’s agrifood businesses to showcase their products to global buyers.

 

WA.gov.au

 

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Finished deadweight lambs have surpassed £8/kg for top E- and U-grades in the past week.

Tight supplies and exceptional demand driving up prices to new all-time highs.

The GB old-season lamb SQQ averaged 789.8p/kg, an increase of 46.1p/kg on the previous week, and up by almost £2/kg since the beginning of the year.

There is further talk among traders of several processors paying highs of between £8.20/kg and £8.80/kg deadweight for best lambs this week as they battle for limited numbers.

Prime lambs have been achieving more than £4/kg liveweight at auction marts, with auctioneers saying that many pens of hoggs have been selling for £200+ a head.

An elevated market in Europe has also helped to facilitate some export trade, with EU deadweight heavy lambs up by 13% on the year to average €8.05/kg deadweight (£6.88/kg) in mid-March, according to the EU Commission.

 

Charlie Reeve | Farmers Weekly 

 

A flying finished lamb trade and a positive outlook for the spring will offer some confidence to sheep farmers during the next few months.

Strong retail demand, tight supply, increased export trade and firm buyer interest in the build-up to Ramadan should all help to offer short-term support.

The deadweight lamb SQQ averaged £7/kg for the week ending 24 February, up 37% (189p/kg) on the same week last year.

Tight supplies of lamb have left processors looking for stock, with GB estimated slaughter figures back by about 8% compared with this time last year, to less than 200,000 head a week. This is due to a smaller lamb crop in 2023, and adverse weather slowing finishing on farm and restricting the number of hoggs coming forward.

Meanwhile, this year’s early lambers are being affected by a rise in cases of Schmallenberg disease, which could limit throughputs moving forward.

In Scotland, R3L-grade lambs averaged 696p/kg deadweight in mid-February, while old-season lambs at Scottish auction marts have been averaging about 315p/kg liveweight.

 

Charlie Reeve | Farmers Weekly

Former Defra Secretary George Eustice has launched a blistering attack on former Prime Minister and International  Trade Secretary Liz Truss over her handling of the Australian trade deal.

The deal included giving Australia or New Zealand full access to the UK market to the beef and sheep market, albeit phased in over 15 years. Yet Australia still bans the import of British beef and there was virtually nothing in return for UK farmers. The Government estimated the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement, signed on 17 December 2021, would unlock £10.4bn of additional trade while ending tariffs on all UK exports to Australia.

While pork was not a part of the deal, with Australia not being significant exporters, the fear within the pig industry was that could set a dangerous precedent in future trade deals.

Mr Eustice, who was sacked by Mrs Truss when she became Prime Minister, told a Commons debate that it was a bad deal for the UK, especially its farmers, and stressed that lessons need to be learned as the UK negotiates future deals.

“Unless we recognise the failures that the Department for International Trade made during the Australia negotiations, we won’t be able to learn the lessons of future negotiations,” he said.

“The first step is to recognise that the Australia trade deal is not actually a very good deal for the UK.”

 

by Alistair Driver / Pig World

Just confirmed today, the requirement for veterinary visits attestations  for export certs pushed back another year to 13/12/23

Certification of ‘regular vet visits’ for EU exports or NI movements

Date issued: 16 November 2022

Purpose
To inform Official Veterinarians (OVs) and other veterinary certifiers that for export of Products of Animal Origin (POAO) to the EU, the EU requirement for farms of origin to have a regular veterinary visit can be certified as follows:
i. Until 13 December 2023, this EU requirement can continue to be certified based on a farmer declaration.

ii. After 13 December 2023, farmer declarations will no longer be accepted and this EU requirement must be certified based on other evidence such as membership of a recognised farm assurance scheme or via a valid veterinary declaration.
The relevant official Notes for Guidance will be updated in due course to reflect this 12-month extension to the previous temporary policy.

Background
1. The EU Animal Health Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/429) created a new
requirement for farms producing animals or products of animal origin or germinal
products for export to the EU (or movements to Northern Ireland under the conditions
of the Northern Ireland Protocol) to be subject to ‘regular’ veterinary visits.

This is implemented by Article 8(e) Delegated Regulation 2020/692.
“must receive regular animal health visits from a veterinarian for the purpose of the
detection of, and information on, signs indicative of the occurrence of diseases,
including those listed diseases referred to in Annex I relevant for the particular species
and category of animal, germinal product or product of animal origin and emerging diseases.

Such animal health visits shall take place at frequencies that are
proportionate to the risks posed by the establishment concerned.”

2. Official Veterinarians (OVs) have had to certify compliance with this new requirement
since 15 January 2022.

3. Farmers only need to comply with this requirement if they are providing relevant animals
or products for export to the EU or for movements to Northern Ireland.

4. The regular veterinary visit requirement can be certified if the farm of origin is a
member of a recognised assurance including Red Tractor, Welsh Beef and Lamb
Producers and/or Quality Meat Scotland. A list of qualifying farm assurance schemes
has been published and will be reviewed on a regular basis.

5. The regular veterinary visit requirement can also be certified on the basis of a valid
veterinary declaration. A template Establishment Veterinary Visitation Declaration for
this purpose can be found on APHA Vet Gateway (ET242).

6. Until 13 December 2023, for farms that are not part of a recognised farm assurance
scheme and are not able to provide a valid veterinary declaration, a farmer declaration
can instead continue to be used to support certification of the EU ‘regular veterinary visit’
requirement. This can be provided via the Food Chain Information (FCI) document.

7. Farmers must use the available time to choose either to exclude their animals or products
from EU export, join a recognised farm assurance scheme or obtain an appropriate
veterinary declaration.

8. Defra will work closely with Official Veterinarians, the Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons, farmers, markets and exporters to facilitate, where required, provision of
veterinary declarations to certifying OVs. We will issue further guidance in due course.

Action
Official Veterinarians (OVs) and certifiers providing Support Health Attestations at abattoirs
should note the updated guidance on certification of the EU requirement for regular
veterinary visits.
For further information please contact [email protected].

 

Gov.uk

Farmers are being told to expect delays for this years peak lamb kill, with the season expected to be longer due to labour shortages.

Processors have been struggling with staff shortages for the past two years due to the border closure and staff being off sick with Covid-19.

AgriHQs latest market update said staff shortages had been a major problem for some processing plants and in some cases lambs were sent back to the farm as there were not enough staff to process them all.

 

Alliance Group, which operates five meatworks in the South Island and two in the lower North Island, had not had to send lambs back, but farmers were experiencing wait times of 10 to 14 days.

General manager livestock and shareholder services Danny Hailes said plants were still processing old season lambs.

Its Lorneville plant had been undergoing maintenance, but would be up to speed next week and the Smithfield plant will ramp up quickly after a one week maintenance shutdown from 28 November, he said.

“Any backlog that we have will be cleared pretty swiftly.”

 

Lorneville would start on two chains and would be operating six by Christmas. There was a goal of getting a seventh processing chain operating in the new year subject to labour.

Staffing had slightly improved with the border reopening but it was still not straightforward to bring in workers from overseas.

“We’re doing our best to get labour in from overseas in a way that suits our seasonal ramp up, but the reality is that we won’t have the numbers of people at the time that we want.”

Farmers should have their lambs processed as soon as they’re ready, he said. “Don’t hold off any longer than you need to.”

 

Silver Fern Farms chief supply chain officer Dan Boulton expected the labour situation to be marginally better than last season.

“However that’s coming off a relatively low base and so we still expect some disruption and delay in the season ahead.

“We’ve got to acknowledge that it’s been a long and challenging few seasons for many of our site staff, and our processing volumes will also be determined by how much sustainable overtime can be achieved without impacting our staff well-being.”

 

by Sally Murphy  / RNZ

 

The Far East has remained an important destination for UK red meat exports during the first half of the year, adding significant value to the UK red meat sector.

According to the latest data from HMRC, despite an easing of shipments due to a number of challenges on the market, China remains the largest importer of pig meat from the UK, with exports valued at nearly £88 million so far this year.

From January to June, more than half of the 108,294 tonnes of pig meat exported to non-EU countries, was imported by China, followed by the Philippines – which has become the world’s third largest importer of pork from the UK.

Shipments to the Philippines were valued at £25.9 million in the first six months of the year – up 14.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. AHDB led the first commercial mission to the Philippines in May, hosting nine UK exporters in Manilla to facilitate the all-important business to business meetings with leading importers.

And Japan is becoming a valuable export market for the UK’s red meat sector, with shipments of both pig meat and beef significantly up on last year.

After securing market access for beef in 2019, shipments have been steadily increasing, with £9.2 million worth exported in the first six months of 2022 – up from £2.8 million. Pig meat shipments have also increased, with exports worth almost £3.2 million.

AHDB Head of Exports Jonathan Eckley said: “Asian markets continue to prove a hugely valuable market for the UK’s red meat sector, despite many challenges on the global stage this year. While volumes to some countries may be quite low, these markets are vital in addressing the issue of carcase balance and utilising cuts that are less popular here in the UK but attract significant value in the Far East.

 

 

AHDB

The UK’s many native sheep breeds have been put in the spotlight after US meat processors arrived in the country and took part in a mutton taste test.

The British Heritage Sheep scheme and the AHDB championed the unique flavour brought to the table by native sheep breeds at the NSA Sheep 2022 event.

There, a taste test was conducted by a group of US meat processors, who were in the UK.

It encompassed three breeds, the Herdwick, Portland and Shropshire, which were selected due to their different ancestry.

Britain has the largest number of native sheep breeds of any country in the world – over 60.

The British Heritage Sheep scheme aims to commercialise the UK’s historic breeds by making an asset out of diversity, and offering a choice to consumers.

The scheme is based on an ABC of three key pieces of information for the consumer – age, breed and countryside.

Following the taste test, NSA chief executive, Phil Stocker explained that sheep meat was one of the last undifferentiated foods in mainstream markets.

“Not all sheep meat tastes the same, particularly as sheep get older producing hogget and mutton, the main factors affecting the flavour are the age of the animal and its breed.

“To some extent what the animal eats will also affect its flavour – for example, a mountain sheep eats predominantly wild herbs and grasses, giving the meat a distinctive eating experience, highly prized in past generations.”

 

 

By Farming UK

AHDB will be in Singapore next week at a major international food and drink showcasing red meat and dairy to buyers from around the world.

The export team will be attending Food and Hotel Asia (FHA), which runs from Monday to Thursday, and attracts more than 40,000 trade delegates looking to supply restaurants, hotels, and the food service sector. The high-profile event is one of the largest and most important shows for exporters from the UK to showcase their products to buyers in the Southeast Asia region.

AHDB will be joined by five red meat and five dairy exporters from the UK, who are there to promote high quality beef, lamb and pork as well as a selection of cheese and baby formula.

Singapore is a significant high-end market for red meat exports, with shipments of pork, beef and lamb from the UK worth almost £2 million last year. It is also proving a valuable market for dairy, with £9.6 million worth of products from the UK exported to the country in 2021 – up 43 per cent on the previous year.

Susan Stewart, AHDB’s Senior Export Manager, said: “With its high gross domestic product and consumers who appreciate quality, Singapore is a hugely important market for our red meat exports.

“We are delighted to be returning to FHA for the first time since 2018, due to the pandemic. The show will provide an ideal platform for us to showcase pork, beef and lamb from the UK to potential buyers across Asia.”

 

by Alistair Driver / Pig World