Bord Bia’s export performance and prospects for 2016/2017 will be launched in Dublin on Wednesday morning and will show that food and drink exports hit €11.15bn last year.

This is the first time Irish food and drink exports reached €11bn and is up from €10.8bn in 2015.

While exports were hit to the tune of €570m last year as a result of weakness and volatility in sterling following the Brexit vote, positive currency tailwinds boosted Irish exports by €800m to €900m in 2015.

Important trading partner

Despite the issues with Brexit and sterling, the UK remains Ireland’s most important trading partner. Some €4.13bn worth of food and drink was exported to the UK last year. Overall, Irish food and drink exports to the UK fell by 8% last year.

Other EU markets took in €3.53bn worth of Irish food and drink, while other international markets performed strongly, accounting for €3.49bn of our food exports.

Higher volume output in the dairy, meat and livestock sectors offset poor farmgate prices.

For more on the Bord Bia export performance and prospects for 2016/2017, see this week’s Irish Farmers Journal.

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Listen: more volume, less value for beef exports in 2016