Irish food exports to Germany increased by 24% in H1 2017
Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, plans to increase its investment in the German food and beverage market, as Irish exporters look outside the traditional UK market to build business.
"It is a premium market, our sixth largest, with an estimated value of €600m last year. Sustainably produced food is increasingly sought by German consumers and we are offering our customers a solution to this demand through our Origin Green programme," said CEO Tara McCarthy. "We are investing further in the market and we have identified a number of initiatives particular to the region to be funded under the recent Brexit allocation from the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine."
According to Bord Bia, the increase of 24% in the Irish food exports was based mainly on sheepmeat (+14%), seafood (+26%), pigmeat (+19%), edible horticulture (+25%) and beverages (+9%).
Irish beef exports to Germany increased
Irish beef exports to the German market rose from 92 million euros in 2013 to 142 million euros in 2016.
The new Brexit initiative launched by Bord Bia will include concept and strategy development planning for promotion activity from 2018 and beyond, including existing material developed for the German market.
The campaign started this year with five retail promotions in over 2,000 stores and a series of promotions with leading steak restaurant chains across 50 locations.
According to Bord Bia, this campaign follows comprehensive consumer research in the German market and a highly encouraging performance by industry.
“The research found that there is a huge interest among German consumers around the topics of food sustainability, origin and animal welfare. Ireland as a food producing nation was viewed favorably and the image of our food production system is one that is pure, green and natural where animals freely graze on green pastures,” the Bord Bia CEO explained.
Strong Irish lamb exports to Germany
Bord Bia has renewed its focus on promoting Irish lamb in Germany, which traditionally has a low consumption per capita of lamb but with strong growth potential.
The Irish food board announced that the promotional work done in the market, including in-store retail promotions, tastings, retailer and foodservice customer trade fair support and brand building through inward journalist and blogger visits have been the main factors that generated the success of the Irish lamb exports in recent years.
Furthermore, Board Bia will launch a new digital platform for Irish lamb in Germany. This launch will coincide with the busy Christmas period, which sees a large increase in lamb consumption in Germany every year.
A record number of 34 Irish companies (27 in the Origin Green pavilions) from across the food and drink industry attended ANUGA this year with an Irish presence in the Meat, Dairy Chilled and Fresh, Frozen and Bakery halls, 70% higher than the last visit here in 2015.
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