Dawn Meats secures multi-million-pound Korean export deal

The agreement will see the Irish meat processor supply beef monthly to a ‘leading’ South Korean company. It comes off the back of the announcement that the country has agreed to open its market to Irish beef for the first time.

Dawn Meats has secured approval for the supply, marketing and distribution of bone and boneless beef cuts and official into South Korea from its sites in Grannagh in Co Waterford and Charleville in Co Cork.

Six years of negotiations

The contract is the culmination of six years of negotiations by the manufacturer, which included a successful visit by representatives of the South Korean company to Ireland in January of this year and an audit of Irish beef plants by South Korean authorities last month.

Niall Browne, Dawn Meats chief executive, said: “We welcome this new market access to South Korea and we are delighted that two of our sites have received South Korean approval. It is a testament to the high-quality beef supplied by our family farm suppliers, and it is a significant step in developing new market opportunities for our products. ​

“We look forward to working with our customers in the South Korean market who will be crucial to helping to bring quality Irish beef to the plates of South Korean consumers.”​

Beef exports

Dawn Meats is already a supplier of Irish beef into other markets in the region including the Philippines and Japan.

The deal comes just under one year since the meat processor announced plans to sell its share in French firm Elivia to majority shareholder Terrena,​ ​following a difference in vision for the future of the business.

Meanwhile, the financial impact of the UK’s Border Target Operating Model​​ (BTOM) is significantly higher than what was predicted by the Government, according to the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA).