While the butter story over the last number of months has been nothing short of phenomenal, perhaps of more importance to the Irish dairy industry will be the emerging market outlook for cheese exports to the UK, both cheddar and speciality cheeses.
While the butter story over the last number of months has been nothing short of phenomenal, perhaps of more importance to the Irish dairy industry will be the emerging market outlook for cheese exports to the UK, both cheddar and speciality cheeses.
The UK is Ireland’s most important market for cheese, accounting for 60% of exports in volume terms. Close to 125,000t of cheese were shipped to the UK in 2016, which was a 10% decline on the 137,800t of cheese exported to the UK in 2015.
Of this total volume of cheese sent to the UK, about two thirds (64%) is cheddar, which shows the reliance of Ireland’s industry on cheddar manufacture.
Figures released this week by the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) show that Irish cheddar exports to the UK for the first three months of 2017 were just over 13,100t, which is a 6% decline compared with last year. Cheddar exports in March were particularly weak – down almost a quarter (-23%) to 4,200t.
While sterling weakness is undoubtedly affecting trade volumes, domestic production of cheddar in the UK is in expansion mode, with the UK industry producing 18% more cheddar between January and March. Taking a longer view, it is clear that Irish cheddar exports to the UK have been under pressure since late 2015, when sterling first began to weaken amid Brexit concerns. Cheddar shipments to the UK since then in volume terms are back close to 11,500t.
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