An Rialálaí Agraibhia (Agri-Food Regulator) has today (Friday, December 12) released reports on the sheep and fruit sectors as part of its interactive price and market data dashboard initiative.

The dashboard bring together publicly available information to show how prices and other market indicators have developed over time.

 It can be observed in the regulator’s market analysis of the fruit supply chain that:

Irish fruit producers have seen a cumulative price growth of 31% from 2015 to 2024. This is less than half of the 71% EU-27 average growth rate over the same period;
In the three-year period 2020-2022, Irish fruit growers experienced rising costs across all major input categories;
The growth in Irish consumer demand for fruit has been met primarily through imports.

The sheep dashboard shows that the volume of Irish sheep slaughtered has shown a long-term downward trend since historic highs in 1993 (4.7 million head in 1993 to 2.8 million in 2024).

Primary producers survey

The regulator also published the findings of its recent survey of primary producers.

The objective of the survey was to measure the awareness and understanding of farmers, fishers and growers of the Agri-Food Regulator and the Unfair Trading Regulations.

Primary producers were also given the opportunity to report any incidence of an unfair trading practice (UTP) they may have experienced with a buyer.

While 71% of respondents did not report being subject to any UTP in the past 12 months, 29% reported that they had experienced at least one of the 16 UTPs in the past year.

The highest incidence of a UTP reported was for payment later than 30 days for a perishable agri-food product, which increased from 17% in 2024 to 20% in 2025.

“As the Irish enforcement authority for the Unfair Trading Regulations, I urge anyone who feels that they may be experiencing or were subject to a UTP, to contact the Regulator in confidence.

“We have a confidential complaint process available to suppliers and we are here to help.

"The findings also indicate that there is more work to do in terms of improving awareness and understanding generally of the Unfair Trading Regulations.”

Transparency

Lenehan highlighted that the regulator does not have a price-setting role.

“Market prices are a matter for suppliers and buyers," she said.

Lenehan added that the regulator’s remit is to “increase transparency” in relation to the supply chain and that the regulator “will continue to engage with relevant businesses and other stakeholders to fulfil that function.”

The dashboards will be updated as new data becomes available and can be found on the Agri-Food Regulator’s website.