This week (October 7 to 10), Bord Bia, along with the Department of Agriculture, embarks on a four-day trade mission to Vietnam and Thailand following a trade mission to Malaysia and the Philippines last year.

Southeast Asia is a dynamic, fast-growing region for the Irish food and drink industry. Bord Bia has identified six priority markets in the region: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

These countries have a combined population of over 600 million and a combined GDP of €3.0 trillion. All experienced robust growth in 2023.

Trade missions are a valuable means of raising the profile of Ireland and unlocking commercial opportunities for Irish exporters.

Bord Bia’s ambition for the trade mission, which will be led by Minister Pippa Hackett, is to build further on the strong partnerships Ireland has with customers in Thailand and Vietnam.

Irish food and drinks exports to Vietnam totalled €25.5 million in 2023. The leading Irish export sector to Vietnam is dairy, followed by seafood (1042t valued at €4 million), and pigmeat (845t worth €1.4 million).

Dairy products are among the top 10 growing food categories in Vietnam. Despite domestic production increases, dairy imports are forecast to grow further in the medium term.

As of 2022, dairy imports meet 60% of Vietnamese demand. In the medium term this may increase slightly to 65%.

Ireland exported 3,500t of dairy to Vietnam in 2023 valued at €19.6 million. The main dairy export category is infant food (1,160t), followed by cheese (1,241t) and milk and cream (940t).

Ireland is a top five supplier of cheese to Vietnam after New Zealand, Australia, France and Germany, according to GIRA with exports increasing since 2019.

Since 2023, Irish milk, cheese and whole milk powder exports to Vietnam are tariff free under the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement.

From 2025, tariffs on all other EU dairy products will be phased out. This will improve Ireland’s competitiveness against Australia and New Zealand who already enjoy tariff free access.

To support Irish dairy exporters, Bord Bia has just completed a study into the fast-developing specialised nutrition sector in Vietnam.

Specialised dairy products are growing in popularity in Vietnam and cater for a range of life stages and requirements such as sports nutrition and healthy aging.

The research aims to give insights to Bord Bia clients on how best to tailor their products to fit the market.  

This comes on the back of other research covering opportunities in Vietnam, including the Future of Dairy SE Asia (2022) and Dairy Ingredients for Foodservice Channel (2021).

Irish food and drink exports to Thailand were valued at €57.5 million in 2023. Exports are dominated by dairy with 16,988t, valued at just under €55 million, exported last year.

Growth in disposable income over the past decade in Thailand has favoured dairy consumption.

There is a strong culture of innovation in the Thai dairy industry, making them world leaders in creating functional and nutritional dairy products.

This presents opportunities for Irish dairy exporters to supply high quality ingredients for local manufacture.

This will be Ireland’s first agri-food trade mission to Thailand and an excellent opportunity to build closer partnerships with major players in the Thai dairy sector.

Other opportunities for Ireland are emerging from the modern and expanding retail, vibrant food service scene and growing middle class.

Fat filled milk powders (FFMP) is the largest sub-category within Irish dairy exports to Thailand with 10,217t of Irish FFMP exported last year. In 2023, Irish SMP exports totalled 2,430 tonnes followed by infant food at 1,858t.

Year to date (January to July) Irish dairy exports have already reached 14,539t, up 66% on the same period last year. A rise in infant food exports is helping to drive this growth, with exports nearly trebling in volume. 

Fat filled milk powder (FFMP) exports are up 37% to 7,833t.

Ireland is in the advanced stages of securing beef access to Thailand. However, even once obtained, a secondary challenge remains in the form of tariffs.

Until a free trade agreement (FTA) is signed between the EU and Thailand, Irish beef will be subject to tariffs from 50% making it largely uncompetitive versus beef from origins such as Australia.

This FTA is currently under negotiation, and once both hurdles are overcome Irish beef can target the growing Thai food service channel, including high-end international hotels and restaurants.

In Thailand, Bord Bia will host a beef roundtable lunch in an effort to drive future opportunities between Irish exporters and leaders of the Thai food industry.

The event will focus on future opportunities, in particular beef, given ongoing discussions on market access.

Bord Bia is in the final year of a three-year dairy campaign promoting Irish and European dairy across five Asian markets including Vietnam and Thailand.

The primary objective of Bord Bia’s EU co-funded ‘European Dairy – Ireland, working with nature’ campaign is to raise awareness of Irish dairy’s availability and capability.

As part of the campaign, Bord Bia has held dairy seminars in Thailand and Vietnam to inform and introduce local buyers to Irish dairy.

Trade missions, and the added Ministerial and government presence, helps to attract a large cohort of buyers to these seminars. A dairy seminar will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, during the trade mission.