A record 35 Irish food companies will be led by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Andrew Doyle, along with the chairman and CEO of Bord Bia to the SIAL International Food Fair in Paris (France) this weekend.
Regarded as the biggest business-to-business (B2B) trade event in the world this year; 32 of the companies will feature on the “Ireland – Origin Green” pavilion.
SIAL takes on increased importance this year given the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s future relationship with the EU, according to Bord Bia.
While PCF exporters performed well in 2017 at €2.8 billion, an increase of 12% on the previous year, the UK accounted for €1.8 billion or 62% of its value.
Irish exporters are clearly acting on their strategies – reported in the Bord Bia Brexit Barometer – to diversify into new markets (85%), with Europe a priority market for 86%.
In addition, three-quarters reported sales growth in non-UK markets in the past 12 months, with 76% favouring trade fairs such as SIAL as platforms for driving growth.
In advance of his departure, Minister Doyle spoke of the Government’s support for food and drink exporters.
The record presence at SIAL shows the confidence of Irish food and drink companies in meeting the challenges of Brexit and the ever-changing requirements of the international marketplace.
“The fact that a third of those here are first-time exhibitors at SIAL demonstrates clearly the strategy to shift away from reliance on one market, opening up to opportunities in Europe and further afield to reduce their risk to trading volatilities.”
The minister noted that under Budget 2019, Bord Bia has been allocated an additional €5 million to implement its export growth strategy for the industry.
“While the UK market continues to perform well with an increase in exports again this year, it is prudent to increase our footprint internationally and SIAL gives us an opportunity to do that with 160,000 trade visitors from 110 countries.”
Tara McCarthy said that since the Brexit vote, Bord Bia has worked to measure the risks to exposed companies’ growth strategies and to explore diversification options in new markets where appropriate.
We now understand better the risks around Brexit and the measures we need to take to support companies to get the right products into the right markets to ensure sustainable growth.
“With the support of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, we are now developing our ‘Plan to Grow’ service.”
Through this, McCarthy explained, Bord Bia will work with companies across all sectors to “identify priority markets for them individually, develop marketing strategies, interrogate market and consumer research trends as well as enhancing brand and product differentiation in association with our Thinking House”.
Bord Bia chairman Dan MacSweeney paid tribute to the Irish farmers and food processors under the Sustainable Assurance Schemes and the Origin Green Charter.
“The power of the Origin Green programme to differentiate our offering at SIAL and provide solutions to food buyers struggling to meet the demands of their consumers for sustainably produced food sets Ireland apart and is vital to securing premium positioning for Irish product in Europe and further afield,” he said.