Companies involved in the processing of beef, sheep and dairy continue to account for nearly half of all turnover generated by the food and drink sector in NI, data published by DAERA shows.
The annual DAERA report on the food and drink processing sector in NI highlights that total gross turnover across the industry stood at £5.42bn in 2020, up slightly on the £5.38bn from the previous year.
Beef and sheep is the largest sub-sector, with turnover of £1.47bn, accounting for 27% of the NI total. Milk and milk products is next at £1.19bn.
Poultrymeat is third at £706m, with pigs at £453m. When combined with the egg sector at £190m and animal byproducts at £48m, turnover generated by processors of livestock products makes up 75% of the NI total.
The number of employees in food and drink processing remains around the 25,000 mark, with the sector providing nearly one-third of all manufacturing jobs in NI.
Sales
The DAERA figures also look at the destination of sales from food and drink processors. Britain remains the most important market, taking 49% of all sales, followed by the home market in NI at 23%. The Republic of Ireland takes 16%, with the rest of the EU taking 7% and the rest of the world at just under 5%.
While the market in Britain is our key sales outlet, some sub-sectors are more reliant on sales there than others. For the likes of beef and sheep, as well as poultrymeat, Britain accounts for over two-thirds of sales. For pigs, it is 50%, although for milk and milk products it is only 27%.
The NI dairy sector has a wide customer base, doing significant business in the home market (23% of sales), to the Republic of Ireland (21%), the rest of the EU (18%) and the rest of the world (11%).