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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D. concluded a week long Agri-Food Trade Mission to Asia in Seoul today (Friday) where he held talks with South Korea’s Minister for Food and Drug Safety. Commenting on the meeting Minister Creed said:

“It was useful to receive a direct appraisal from Minister Ryu on the progress of our application for market access for Irish beef. A number of stages remain to be cleared of the multi phase process before market access can be secured. While Minister Ryu was reluctant to provide a definitive time frame for the completion of our application he did indicate that it may be possible to move to the next phase of the process before the end of the year. I also took the opportunity to communicate to the Minister our intention to initiate applications for poultry and sheepmeat access.”

The Trade Mission concluded with Minister Michael Creed visiting a Hyundai store, one of Korea's premium retailers. In addition to meeting with Hyundai senior management team, the Minister launched 'Irish Gourmet Week' - an in-store promotional event, supported by Bord Bia, to highlight the new Irish products in the market. Included in this week's promotion were Flavahan's Oats, Inferno Hot Sauce range and Newgrange Gold oils. The Minister also launched the arrival of Kerrygold butter to the South Korean market.

“This has been a positive week for Irish Agri-Food ambitions in the Region. Over five days I've met four Senior Ministers in two major economies, been in the boardrooms of five multi billion Euro Companies, and attended thirteen separate promotional events attended by over 400 Japanese and Korean buyers. More importantly the travelling delegation from Industry has indicated that the mission has been a success in terms of their efforts to build links in this marketplace.”

Speaking in Korea, Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy said:

"Following this intensive week of client and customer engagement Bord Bia will escalate its investment in market and trade insight for the region as well as in market resources to capitalise on the clear opportunities identified for the Irish food industry"