Exports of Irish dairy produce surged by €453m in 2019, an increase of 10% on the year before.

Dairy produce exports are now worth over €5bn, according to the latest trade figures from the Department of Agriculture.

While the outbreak of COVID-19 has caused major disruption across the agri food industry, trade figures for last year show €14.5bn worth of agricultural produce left Ireland. Available figures for 2020 show exports started stronger in January but fell back to 2019 levels in February.

Dairy accounted for over one third of all agri-food exports, followed by beef at 16% and beverages at 12%. Along with dairy, the beverages sector also showed strong growth last year, increasing by 19%.

Beef

As beef farmers endured a bruising year dogged by low prices, the value of beef exports fell by 4%, with a marked fall off coinciding with last year’s protests.

In the month of September, beef exports fell from an average €230m to €165m. Overall, there was €2.3bn worth of beef exported in 2019.

Together, beef and dairy account for half of all Irish agri food exports.

Live exports were worth €458m last year, an increase of 4% on 2018. October proved to be a record month, as €100m worth of animals were exported in comparison with €60m the same month in 2018.

Other meat exports including pigmeat, sheepmeat and poultry increased by 4% last year to reach €1.5bn. While the first two months of 2020 show record exports of these products, they are likely to fall as a result of the global pandemic.

Markets

In terms of markets, the UK remains Ireland’s most important, taking 38% of products exported. In total, the UK takes €5.5bn worth of Irish agri food produce, but this has fallen by €110m on the year before.

The market shares of the EU excluding the UK and the rest of the world grew to 33% (€4.7bn) and 30% (€4.3bn) respectively. However, the UK remains the single most important market, trailed distantly by the US (8%) and the Netherlands (8%).

Since 2010, the export of Irish agri food produce has increased by 63%.