Food exporters urged to hedge to protect trade value

Food companies with significant sales in the UK can use currency hedging to protect the value of a lot of their trade, said AIB treasury manager John Sheils.

Mr Sheils told farmers at the annual general meeting of Commercial Mushroom Producers that any company with significant sales in one country may hold a natural hedge on its currency risk if it also generates expenses in that country.

This may be limited for many mushroom producers due to the amount of locally sourced inputs, but can still be used to reduce the impact of currency movements on a business’s profits, he told the growers at the meeting in Mullingar, Co Westmeath.