Food Industry

Thursday, 19 September 2024

Ceisteanna (250)

Bernard Durkan

Ceist:

250. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which food and food products such as beef, lamb, pigmeat, diary or poultry have been imported into this country in each of the past five years to date; the extent to which trends have been noticeable throughout; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37226/24]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The Central Statistics Office provides my Department with statistics on the value and volume of Irish trade in agri-food and prepared consumer foods. Agri-food statistics include agricultural produce not for human consumption, such as animal feed or forestry and wood products. Figures for 2023 are currently preliminary.

The total value of agri-food imports grew from €9.99 billion in 2019 to €13.17 billion in 2023, an increase of 31.8%. Volume grew by a lesser 1.2% during the same period, from 11.90 million tonnes to 12.04 million tonnes. There was a similar trend in imports of prepared consumer foods, which saw value rise by 30.9% between 2019 and 2023, from €3.76 billion to €4.92 billion. Volume grew by 1.1%, from 2.39 million tonnes to 2.42 million tonnes.

Table One below shows the value and volume of agri-food imports into Ireland during each of the past five full years, 2019-2023, by category. Table Two shows the same statistics for Irish imports of prepared consumer foods, by category.

Table One: Value and Volume of Agri-Food Imports, 2019-2023

Year	2019		2020		2021		2022		2023
Category	Thousand Euro	Tonnes	Thousand Euro	Tonnes	Thousand Euro	Tonnes	Thousand Euro	Tonnes	Thousand Euro	Tonnes
Animal Feed	1,358,322	5,359,840	1,401,645	5,284,805	1,574,361	5,152,202	2,309,000	5,925,886	2,026,512	5,561,653
Animal Skins & Furs	2,150	257	1,744	348	3,128	182	4,261	793	3,351	373
Beef	128,969	30,213	129,668	29,921	158,234	35,071	190,072	36,568	199,572	36,513
Beverages	966,182	936,283	1,047,685	1,028,953	1,005,362	990,489	1,178,504	999,782	1,323,903	1,061,431
Cereal & cereal preparation	900,573	734,954	883,817	667,608	850,834	592,232	1,042,279	675,400	1,216,013	674,785
Coffee, Tea, Cocoa & Spices	653,841	137,084	658,383	159,250	607,154	109,719	708,444	125,833	789,775	129,102
Crude Animal & Vegetable Material	241,888	267,162	265,394	249,944	300,702	213,984	331,923	218,758	322,909	193,330
Dairy Produce	1,005,852	1,046,533	1,081,230	999,113	878,456	848,530	1,204,504	949,405	1,166,716	974,937
Egg	23,696	11,098	20,767	12,640	19,081	6,154	41,235	16,656	54,156	13,059
Fish	297,016	63,739	290,098	79,784	268,820	93,191	314,981	71,761	355,024	64,012
Forestry & Wood products	605,008	1,053,557	572,213	1,076,721	738,783	1,107,505	868,034	897,785	886,386	1,127,732
Fruit & Vegetables	863,300	719,107	869,725	705,788	824,727	701,460	919,854	705,769	1,045,209	719,586
Fruit & Vegetables Based Products	508,278	386,257	531,797	395,246	445,092	300,194	546,751	325,492	659,685	335,601
Live Animals	357,153	13,901	480,015	14,598	328,212	14,058	342,153	13,076	350,715	11,367
Miscellaneous Edible Products & Preparations	597,957	252,809	598,725	256,773	583,492	209,081	701,419	228,653	811,535	246,243
Oils, Fats & Oleaginous Fruits	230,744	302,079	272,745	336,997	353,380	322,837	547,859	343,264	445,888	304,195
Other Meat & Meat Produce	26,310	10,939	17,875	8,650	8,825	4,744	13,395	4,509	17,925	10,045
Pigmeat	343,742	99,342	322,960	86,095	303,833	82,481	334,826	85,595	351,909	77,504
Poultry	478,466	134,330	393,336	121,205	383,501	114,343	555,592	142,316	571,189	142,257
Sheepmeat	35,874	6,650	36,958	6,631	43,544	6,528	58,903	9,199	35,101	5,453
Sugar, Sugar Preparation & Honey	344,732	327,890	356,037	331,170	322,929	321,364	390,833	351,050	514,185	352,773
Wool, Flax & Cotton	24,685	4,575	13,604	1,831	18,056	3,862	24,649	4,873	25,648	2,884
Grand Total	9,994,739	11,898,601	10,246,422	11,854,071	10,020,508	11,230,209	12,629,471	12,132,424	13,173,305	12,044,837

Table Two: Value and Volume of Prepared Consumer Food Imports, 2019-2023

Year	2019		2020		2021		2022		2023
Category	Thousand Euro	Tonnes	Thousand Euro	Tonnes	Thousand Euro	Tonnes	Thousand Euro	Tonnes	Thousand Euro	Tonnes
Biscuits	156,645	54,630	153,364	53,995	136,261	47,626	163,029	54,084	217,035	56,216
Breads	150,658	77,337	149,217	69,735	125,722	61,620	137,383	52,447	164,358	55,947
Cereal based Products	365,038	423,402	381,087	405,868	366,812	360,926	475,372	434,184	511,729	423,733
Chocolate-based products	371,603	83,259	373,542	88,162	330,759	63,941	361,752	70,641	426,866	71,008
Dairy Preparations	191,030	109,562	193,974	109,320	165,216	88,572	207,850	72,492	236,200	86,655
Extracts, Sauces, Soups	379,913	131,019	387,474	144,706	362,276	114,354	435,265	121,967	480,997	124,940
Frozen Confectionery	68,827	31,613	78,909	36,785	62,757	24,261	56,356	20,526	75,611	29,001
Fruit & Vegetable based	429,430	312,360	452,652	312,202	387,116	254,689	466,874	284,573	585,458	320,235
Fruit-based bakery	73,630	31,566	68,694	24,471	87,050	25,145	94,999	24,401	108,409	23,114
Meat Preparations	556,394	133,773	473,759	111,348	431,164	92,681	545,698	99,392	593,175	101,439
Other Food Preparations	259,633	91,173	259,531	82,937	298,192	84,930	301,292	71,260	340,055	71,006
Pizza/Quiche	94,569	39,758	89,699	39,793	96,600	28,584	122,910	33,667	148,774	54,783
Savoury Snacks etc	44,119	15,663	49,963	16,218	37,781	9,156	40,612	9,020	52,929	9,486
Sugar-based products	212,564	345,162	220,245	355,100	229,189	371,351	273,934	383,794	388,966	391,370
Waters & Juices & Soft Drinks	405,676	511,958	390,325	532,209	398,421	525,952	503,420	549,494	590,048	599,952
Grand Total	3,759,729	2,392,238	3,722,436	2,382,849	3,515,315	2,153,788	4,186,746	2,281,943	4,920,609	2,418,885

Overall, agri-food and prepared consumer food imports have typically grown to a greater extent during these five years in terms of their nominal value than their volume. Table three below shows the change in the value and volume of imports in selected agri-food categories between 2019 and 2023.

Table Three: Change in the Value and Volume of Imports in Selected Agri-Food Categories between 2019 and 2023

	Value		Volume
	€ 000	Percentage (%)	Tonnes	Percentage (%)
Dairy Produce	160,865	16.0%	-71,596	-6.8%
Fish	58,008	19.5%	273	0.4%
Beef	70,602	54.7%	6,301	20.9%
Pigmeat	8,166	2.4%	-21,838	-22.0%
Poultry	92,723	19.4%	7,927	5.9%
Sheepmeat	-773	-2.2%	-1,197	-18.0%
Other Meat & Meat Produce	-8,386	-31.9%	-894	-8.2%
Agri-Food (All Categories)	3,178,566	31.8%	146,236	1.2%

It is important to consider agri-food imports in the context of corresponding exports, which grew by €3.63 billion or 24.8% between 2019 and 2023 overall - despite a fall in the volume of agri-food exports of 130,577 tonnes (1.7%).

Ireland recorded an agri-food trade surplus of more than €5 billion in 2023, and trade surpluses were recorded in several of the most valuable individual categories of agri-food in each of the past five years. In 2023, for example, trade surpluses were recorded for dairy produce (€5.25 billion); beef (€2.79 billion); pigmeat (€525 million); sheepmeat (€384 million); and fish (€196 million).