Positive progress on UK lamb exports to USA

The announcement was made by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, following a meeting with USA president Joe Biden, last week.

UFU deputy president William Irvine said: “We welcome this announcement from the UK Prime Minister, that going forward, the UK will now be able to export sheep meat to the USA. The opening of this market for our Northern Ireland (NI) sheep farmers has the potential to provide positive returns to the NI sheep industry.

“We produce some of the most high-quality sheep meat products in the world, farmed sustainably and to the highest environmental and animal welfare standards. However, due to not being able to export sheep meat to the US for several decades because of BSE Controls, our farmers have missed out on this vast market opportunity.

“We are looking forward to getting our NI Farm Quality Assured lambed packed with healthy nutrients, shipped to the USA for their residents to enjoy. We urge our UK government and local NI authorities to move swiftly to allow this positive process to proceed without too much delay.”