Great news indeed for lovers of Irish food; the value of exports of Irish food and drink has increased by 12 percent in 2011. The increase, in terms of the money involved, was €1 billion, thus taking it to an all-time high of €8.85 billion.
Dave, who works for Clover Advertising, was reading this aloud from some site, for me and other friends to hear. He is from Dublin and hence cannot contain his happiness at the news.
The news that Dave was reading aloud stated that the dairy and meat sectors were the strongest performing categories, both representing about 30 per cent of total food and drink exports. Coming in second were the prepared foods, which accounted for 17 per cent of total sales. Seafood came third, with 4.5 per cent.
Dave also explained, from what he gathered from the news, that the UK was the primary destination or market for Irish food and drinks exports last year and accounted for 41 per cent of total Irish food and drink exports. The increase this year was 6 per cent. The second largest market was the European Union, with 34 percent of the total exports.
While the value of exports outside the European market grew by 20 percent in 2011, exports to Asia too have increased greatly.