The standout finding from this year’s survey of Ireland’s agri-food sector, which was commissioned by the Irish Farmers Journal and KPMG in early 2019, was that more than one-third (36%) of Irish agribusiness leaders feel their business is uncompetitive in the international marketplace.

This is a concerning finding given that Ireland exports €13bn of food and drink every year, with 90% of Ireland’s beef and dairy production destined for export markets.

Ninety per cent of companies surveyed identified red tape and the cost of regulatory compliance as the number one reason for being uncompetitive compared to international rivals. Interestingly, issues such as energy costs, Government support and currency volatility were found to be much less of a drag on business competitiveness.

Twenty per cent of respondents identified political uncertainty as the biggest challenge facing their business. Brexit continues to weigh heavily on Irish exporters and is forcing business leaders to defer decisions on investments and capital projects.

Despite the uncertainty of Brexit, the outlook among business leaders remains confident. Forty-three per cent of respondents described their business outlook for 2019 as confident, while a further 13% described their outlook as very confident.

Twenty-eight per cent of respondents say their outlook is neutral, while just 8% of companies have a negative outlook for 2019.

The overall confidence of Ireland’s agribusiness sector is reflected in figures which show that almost two-thirds (64%) of company CEOs are planning a capital investment in their business in 2019. Over a fifth (21%) of respondents will invest in capital projects, while a further 17% say they will invest in additional staff.

Just over 15% of respondents are planning to invest in operational efficiencies, while only 7% of Irish agri-food companies are planning to invest in R&D in 2019.

Less than a third (29%) of Irish agribusiness companies are planning to enter a new market in 2019. Of the companies that are looking to expand into new markets, they are mostly targeting new markets in Asia (33%) and continental Europe (27%).

Interestingly, almost half of these companies (42%) say they will be tailoring their product offering to meet consumer tastes in these new markets.

Methodology

The research for the survey was conducted by KPMG and was based on a representative sample of agribusinesses in Ireland.

The survey, which consisted of 15 questions across a range of agribusiness-related topics, was sent to the senior management of a wide cross-section of businesses with the sector.

The survey was made available to respondents electronically.

We would like to thank all the respondents for taking the time to complete the agribusiness survey and we hope you find our results informative and insightful.

We welcome any feedback and suggestions that you feel could improve our 2020 Agribusiness survey.