Ireland to sell 100,000 cows to Turkey

By Oscar Rousseau

- Last updated on GMT

Turkey wants to import half a million live cattle every year
Turkey wants to import half a million live cattle every year

Related tags Cattle Turkey Beef Livestock

Up to 100,000 live cattle could be shipped from Ireland to Turkey every year as the latter looks to beef up its herd.

Representatives from the Irish Farmers’ Association​ (IFA) and Bord Bía​ held talks with the Turkish Meat and Milk Board (ESK) in Ankara, Turkey’s capital city, this week.

Progressive talks took place to establish if Ireland could help Turkey meet its need to import half a million head of live cattle every year. Trade reps think the Republic can supply about fifth of the Turkey’s live cattle demand.

Based on the discussion we had, Ireland could supply up to 100,000 head of this requirement on an annual basis,​” said IFA’s national livestock chairman Angus Woods after the high-level meeting.

Genetic enhancements

Wood met ESK’s director general Ethem Kali, Salih Turgay Isik of the Turkish Department of Agriculture and several buyers of live Irish cattle.

Around 17,000 live cattle have already been shipped to Turkey by Ireland this year, according to the IFA. Almost 20,000 were sold the year before.

Turkey wants to develop the trade with Ireland and it is very important that this is fully facilitated in every way,​” said Woods. “We discussed how we can increase supplies from Ireland by matching our seasonal production with the Turkish specification requirements. We also discussed various issues around weight, age and quarantine requirements.​”

South America: Turkey’s top livestock trader

Turkey​ has become a market of some significance for Ireland’s beef and livestock industry and last year tapped into the country’s coveted beef genetics by importing 400,000 artificial insemination straws.

Still, trade from Ireland represents a minority of the live cattle arriving into Turkey. Six in 10 cattle imported by Turkey come from either Brazil​ or Uruguay​, while some European countries supply the remaining 40%. Turkey restricts France, a big exporter of live cattle, due to Bluetongue disease.

Irish cattle sold to Turkey tend to be young finishing bulls weighing less than 300 kilograms and under one year of age. 

Related topics Meat

Related news

Show more

comments

Post your comment

We will not publish your email address on the website

These comments have not been moderated. You are encouraged to participate with comments that are relevant to our news stories. You should not post comments that are abusive, threatening, defamatory, misleading or invasive of privacy. For the full terms and conditions for commenting see clause 7 of our Terms and Conditions ‘Participating in Online Communities’. These terms may be updated from time to time, so please read them before posting a comment. Any comment that violates these terms may be removed in its entirety as we do not edit comments. If you wish to complain about a comment please use the "REPORT ABUSE" button or contact the editors.

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars