In the export figures released on Wednesday morning by Bord Bia, international (non-EU) markets now account for a third (31%) of all Irish food and drink exports.

Since 2010, international markets have grown in value by around €1.5bn and account for half of all the food and drink export growth. In this time, exports to China have grown sixfold, while exports to the US and the rest of Asia have doubled.

In 2016, Irish food and drinks exports to international markets grew by 13%, or more than €400m, to reach a record €3.5bn. Exports to the US and China, which account for 50% of all international exports, grew by a combined €400m in 2016.

Significantly, we now export €955m to the US and €840m to China. Our next largest international market is Africa at €500m and the Middle East at €340m.

Heavily weighted

However, what these numbers do not tell us is that exports to international markets are heavily weighted towards a few products, with almost half of exports accounted for by dairy and a further 20% accounted for by beverages.

In contrast, beef and pigmeat exports to international markets account for 4% and 5% respectively.

Looking at the US, 70% of all export value is derived from beverage (whiskey and beer) exports. While exports of butter to the US of butter and cheese have doubled in recent years, they still account for just 10%, or around €100m.

Similarly in China, where we have seen 35% growth in exports in the last year, Irish exports to this market are heavily weighted towards one product. Approximately 70% of all Irish exports to China are infant formula, while other dairy powders account for a further 5%.

Irish pork exports to China grew strongly in 2016 with around 65,000t of pigmeat shipped to this market. Outside of these three products, exports to the Chinese market are fractional.

Threats

The looming threats posed by Brexit mean our reliance on international markets could be set to increase in the years ahead. But as we can see right now the range of Irish food sold into these markets is extremely narrow.

So as the falloff in the UK market set foot, companies adapted their product mix. This is all very well once the US butter market remains strong or infant formula demand continues in China.

Albeit mainly operating in the commodity space, our dairy industry has successfully diversified into a very broad range of markets. However, our meat sectors have not been able to replicate this and remain heavily dependent on the UK and EU markets.

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