Bord Bia confident of no further fall in Irish food exports

Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy is confident Irish food and drink exporters will hold their own this year, and even grow in markets such as China. Ms McCarthy recently launched the Bord Bia Talent Academy post-graduate programmes to develop executive talent for Ireland’s food and drink industry. Picture: Marc O’Sullivan

Bord Bia is confident of avoiding any further decline in food and drink exports this year, and said a Covid and Brexit-driven performance crash is unlikely to be on the horizon.

This is despite Irish food and drink exports falling by 2% in 2020, mainly due to the impact of the pandemic, and widespread market uncertainty still existing.

Bord Bia said exports were valued at €13bn in 2020, down from a record level of €13.2bn in 2019. 

Chief executive Tara McCarthy said while there are still “so many unknowns”, Bord Bia is targeting a “steady performance” this year.

While any meaningful increase in export value is unlikely in 2021, Ms McCarthy said achieving a value of around €13bn again is “doable” and is what the current market dynamics indicate.

She said global demand for dairy products, pigmeat and beef are continuing to rise, with Ireland well placed to pick up the slack from a drop in EU beef production. Irish beef has performed well in China since entering that market in 2018, but a BSE-related suspension of Irish beef imports into China has been in place since last May and is yet to be lifted.

Ms McCarthy said China is being viewed by Bord Bia as “a huge opportunity” for Irish food exporters, with increasing consumption and more of its population eating beef.

The value of Irish food and drink exports to Asia, as a whole, has jumped 14% to €1.4bn since 2016, as exporters' Brexit-related market diversification away from the UK has grown. 

As of the end of 2020, Ireland’s total food and drink exports were evenly divided three ways between the EU, the UK and international markets outside of those two regions. Of the nearly €2bn increase in Irish food export value since the 2016 Brexit referendum, most new business has gone to the EU, Asia and Africa. The UK only accounted for 10% of the extra export value.

Prepared consumer foods and alcohol products took the biggest hit last year. The value of Irish alcohol exports fell 19% to €1.3bn. Despite supermarket retailers still thriving, Covid’s effect on the foodservice sector – with pubs and restaurants closed for long periods – was the defining impact.

Seafood exports also suffered and this area is likely to remain challenged this year. However, exports of dairy, meat and cereals all increased.

"With a return to global economic growth forecast for 2021, we anticipate continued strong global demand for Irish dairy. We expect the global meat supply balance to favour producers, particularly in Asia which has been at the centre of much Irish export growth,” Ms McCarthy said.

Industry group Drinks Ireland said drink producers will be focused on driving recovery this year. However, it warned of ongoing trade disputes between the EU and the US, with Irish drink producers having the lowest dependency rates on the UK market of any of this country’s food and drink categories.