Irish meat processor Dunbia has announced a joint venture agreement with Dutch beef supplier Shannon Meats to work in the Benelux markets and, in future, Germany.

The deal will allow Dunbia access to new customers in the retail and wholesale trade in the Benelux countries, a statement from the Irish group said.

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Dunbia CEO Jim Dobson said: "We have been doing business with Shannon Meats for many years and have always been extremely impressed with their business approach which sits well with our our own corporate ethos and values. Our plans to increase our export markets have been well documented."

A spokesperson for Dunbia could not comment further on the deal.

Ronnie Bosma, CEO for Shannon Meats, told just-food the joint venture would allow the two to work "more closely together to develop future ideas," including serving retail customers seeking information on the development of products in areas such as "better genetics or tenderness in the meat".

"For that you often have to go back to the calf," Bosma said. "You need someone like Dunbia who has done a lot of research themselves for customers already. This relationship allows us to talk with and work more closely with Dunbia on areas like this. We're not experts in that field, we're only in the marketplace. Dunbia is doing a lot of work with farmers and looks closely at these sorts of areas."

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Bosma said the venture would move the relationship between the two beyond that of supplier and distributor: "It's a real partnership. They have access to our systems including our distribution and cold storage system, and we have access to them. The agreement with Dunbia will bring us experience in livestock procurement and an introduction to the excellent farmers which Ireland has."

He said the agreement would also see the two companies look at Germany.

"Germany is a very big country. We are certainly going to look to [enter] Germany because with our big production systems and our capacity to market and being in close proximity, it should be very easy."