The Department of Agriculture has released its report on the performance of the agri-food sector in Ireland for 2021 combined with an outlook for the current year.

Rising global commodity prices meant that 2021 was a record year for Irish agri-food exports with the value reaching €15.4bn, up from €14bn in 2020 and 51% higher than they were in 2012. Agri-food exports in 2021 represented 9.5% of all goods exported and the sector employs 170,400 people, or 7.1% of total employment.

Dairy exports accounted for €5.1bn, almost one-third of the total, with beef coming next at €2.4bn, followed by pigmeat on €932m, sheepmeat at €386m and mushrooms at €167m

Performance in 2022

Bord Bia export data for the first eight months of 2022 shows that the volume and value of Irish agri food, seafood and drink exports has continued to increase.

The total value for the period between January and August was €10.6bn compared with €8.6bn for the same period last year, a 25% increase. Export volumes across all products was also 8% higher at 3.4m tonnes compared with 3.1m tonnes between January and August 2021.

Irish dairy exports continue to grow in both value and volume for the first eight months of 2022.

The value surged by almost 35% to €4.3bn as the value of dairy commodities increased in world markets. There was also strong volume growth of 13.5% to 1.188m tonnes compared with just over 1m tonnes in the same period in 2021.

Despite the strength of the US dollar compared to the euro in 2022, the value of Irish dairy exports to the US increased by 54% to €421.1m, while the volume also increased by 14.4% to just over 49,000t. Butter is the largest Irish dairy export to the US at 21,692t worth over €180m between January and August, followed by casein worth €90.7m despite a 5.7% drop in volume to 8.879t. Cheese volumes fell by 7.1% to 6,897t but the value increased by 15% to €44.6m.

The most spectacular increase in dairy exports to the US this year is for infant food which has increased by eight and a half times to 9,186t at a value of €83.6m. This was driven by a production shortage in the US caused by a product recall and the loss of production capacity.

Other markets

While sales volumes to Britain increased by 16.3% to 111,234t, there was a surge in exports to Northern Ireland, increasing by 61% to 305,077t.

Milk and cream volumes to Northern Ireland increased by 74.1% to 257,513t and given that over one-third of all Northern Ireland milk is processed in dairies south of the border, this illustrates the benefit and necessity of uninterrupted cross-border trade.

The overall UK market was the highest-value market at €835.8m, 43% higher than January to August 2021.

The EU 27 was a €1.4bn market for the first eight months, a 47% increase on 2021 with Germany the highest-value individual market at €304.2m.

Sales value to African countries increased by almost 30% to €583.7m and while the value to Asia was up 13.9%, the volume fell by 11.9%

Irish beef exports also increased between January and August, with volumes up 14% and value up by 27%, reflecting higher global beef prices.

Export volumes to the UK, Ireland’s largest beef export market, increased in 2022. Sales to Britain were up 13.4% to 117,782t and there was a dramatic increase in sales to Northern Ireland, up 78% to 49,277t.

The EU 27 remains Ireland’s other main market for beef, taking 147,529t, a 13.1% increase, with value increasing by 31.6% to €847.3m.

France is the main volume market, taking 32,805t, followed by Netherlands with 26,643t.

Disappointingly, sales to the US have fallen back again so far this year, down to less than 2,000t from an already low base of 5,177t for the same period in 2021. It is a similarly disappointing picture for sales to Asian markets, down from 24,867t between January and August 2021 to just 15,598t for the same period this year.

Sheepmeat exports also continued the upward trend with volume up 12% to 49,009t and value up 20% to €229.6m for the first eight months compared with the previous year.

France continues to be the largest export market, taking 14,903t between January and August, a 20% increase. The UK is next at 9,798t, a 12% increase, while Germany showed the greatest growth when taking 7,685t, one-third more than the previous year.

Access to the US market was secured earlier this year but product hasn’t started to flow yet. Canada, which has been open for a few years, is starting to show some promise, with 1,020t of sheepmeat exported there in 2022 up to end of August compared with 593t last year.

Pigmeat is still suffering from the drop in Chinese imports as they have rebuilt their herd. Volumes to Asia are down 23.5% to 68,635t but there has been good growth in exports to the EU, up 26.8% and Oceania, mainly Australia, which is up 48.3% to 18,063t.

Poultry volumes have recovered in 2022 increasing by 55.5% to 74,124t with a huge growth to the UK which showed an increase of more than 30,000t to 50,715t.

The UK also takes 90% of horticulture and cereals exports, with cereals accounting for 140,000t and mushrooms 29,707t, both down on 2021.