THE National Sheep Association (NSA) is welcoming the United States lifting its ban on imports of British lamb, saying it will help maximise trade opportunities for UK sheep farmers.

With a ban on both British lamb and beef imports to the US in place since 1989, due to concerns around BSE, NSA believes the announcement will increase demand for British sheepmeat within the US.

NSA Chief Executive Phil Stocker comments: “The sheep industry in the UK has clear potential to grow further but any expansion must be market and demand led. The announcement helps the supply and demand dynamics to support a strong market and potential further growth. The UK is the third largest exporter of sheepmeat globally, telling us that we are good at producing sheepmeat and that our supply chains are efficient and able to deliver.

“This creates another opportunity for our industry to maximise trade opportunities and we have always seen the US as being a potentially important market. After the domestic market, which takes 60 – 65% of UK production, the EU is still our largest export market and is on our doorstep. However, access is more difficult than it was when we were part of the EU. It’s essential to maintain EU access but is also important to work on any market that gives us future potential.”

Mr Stocker notes the wider opportunities presented by the lifting of the ban: “We shouldn’t expect to see any sudden surge in volumes going to the US, but we do know there is strong demand for UK sheep genetics – semen and embryos. Many British sheep breeds are in the US but are numerically too small to have a strong gene pool so the demand for our genetics is strong.”