It has been another difficult week for sterling, with the pound weakening against a number of currencies.

In an interview last weekend, Theresa May gave her strongest indication to date that the UK would leave the EU single market. The British prime minister warned that the UK would not be keeping “bits of membership” of the EU.

“We are leaving. We are coming out. We are not going to be a member of the EU any longer,” she said. Markets took a dim view of May’s comments as sterling dropped another 2p to just under £0.88 against the euro.

This fresh wave of sterling volatility is expected to continue into next week, with the UK prime minister set to deliver a major speech on Tuesday. In her speech, May is expected to outline in greater detail her plans for Britain’s exit from the European Union.

May’s speech on Tuesday will almost certainly have fresh implications for sterling, with some economists predicting in recent days we will see the UK currency move above £0.90 relative to the euro.

As we can see in the figures released this week by Bord Bia, sterling weakness hit Irish food and drink exports to the tune of €570m last year. The intense competition in the UK retail market also proved a major challenge for Irish food exports in 2016, as food prices on UK shelves remained deflationary for 11 months of the year. The overall effect was that the value of food exports to the UK fell 8%, or €350m.

As the UK is Ireland’s single largest trading partner for food, these challenges will be debated at the upcoming Irish Farmers Journal conference entitled Navigating Global Trade, which will take place in Dublin on Friday 27 January.

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