Food firms seek €25m to ease future Brexit hits
Employer group Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII) is seeking a fully ‘Brexit-proofed’ budget to address tax competitiveness against the UK.
It is also proposing the reintroduction of the Employment Subsidy Scheme and the Enterprise Stabilisation measures last applied in 2009-2011.
FDII director Paul Kelly said: “The current change in currency value is structural, not cyclical, and follows core changes to the Irish and UK economic and business environments.
"This makes it impossible to pass on the currency changes to export customers or absorb them within businesses. The likely damage is potentially enormous in reduced export volumes and job losses.”
Ibec surveys have shown that half of food and drink companies had hedging or pricing arrangements in place.
Many of these would be reset at year end and this will impact immediately on food and drink companies’ ability to continue to do business with the UK at current price levels.
An analysis carried out by Ibec’s economic unit for FDII estimated that a weakening of euro/sterling from the 73p average in 2015 to a sustained period near the 90p mark would translate to a loss of €700m in food exports and 7,500 Irish jobs.
FDII is also seeking a review of the impact of Brexit on the FoodWise 2025 document, a task force to engage with food and drink companies, and access to a sustainable package financing for food and drink companies to address working capital as well as development finance.
