With Greece’s economy in free-fall, its Government on the brink of a multi-bullion dollar default and also the possibility that it may be expelled form the Eurozone. Agriland has taken a look at the agri-food trade between Ireland and the embattled country.
Ireland exported almost €24m worth of food and drink to Greece in 2014 – down 14% on 2013.
Dairy is Ireland’s most important food and drink export to Greece by far. Over €18.5m worth of dairy products were exported to Greece in 2014 – down from €21m in 2013.
Beef exports to Greece totalled €246,009 last year. The figure was up from the €138,226 exported in 2013.
Beverages are Ireland’s second biggest food and drink export to Greece at over €3.2m.
Eurozone finance Ministers are set to vote this weekend on new Greek proposals to cut the countries massive debt.
Capital controls imposed and cash withdrawals after the collapse of previous bailout talks has seen Greek banks stay closed remain closed since June 29.
Last week Greece defaulted on an IMF loan repayment and it now also faces a critical July 20 repayment to the ECB of €3.49bn.
Greece has already had two bailouts from the eurozone and the IMF since 2010 totalling €240bn.
However its economy remains extremely weak having shrunk by a quarter during that time. Unemployment in Greece is more than 25% and one in two young people are out of work.