Over 90% of Irish agri-food companies have ranked COVID-19 as the greatest risk to their business, according to the latest findings from Bord Bia’s Readiness Radar.

A survey of 128 Irish agri-food companies, which account for over half of Irish food and drink exports, found that COVID-19 is the major worry for businesses with fears that it will lead to a global recession.

Building exports into new markets was identified as the second greatest concern in the Irish food industry, while the fallout from Brexit was the third highest priority on the list. Almost 20% of Irish agri-food companies are now optimistic that a favourable Brexit deal will be reached, which is a marked improvement in industry sentiment with just one in 10 companies optimistic of a deal this time last year.

While Bord Bia’s research showed that Brexit is a concern for Irish agri-food companies, the survey also found that 41% of respondents had actually increased their business into the UK market over the last 12 months. An additional 39% of businesses said they had maintained their sales in the UK market.

“While a disruptive event is always an immense challenge for any business, dealing with the consequences inevitably helps businesses to build resilience and be better prepared for the next event. As a result of Brexit preparations, valuable skills in risk management have been learned by the agri-food sector and there is evidence that the industry has been better able to manage the impact of Covid-19 because of the actions it had taken over the past three years,” said Bord Bia’s strategic projects manager Shane Hamill.