Ireland takes on the world at Paris food fair

Imagine walking towards the trade stands at the Ploughing, but it is indoors. Now make that five times bigger, replace the farmers with buyers in suits and replace trade stands with food companies. You have arrived at SIAL Paris 2018, the biggest business-to-business food fair in the world this year.

There are 7,200 exhibitors from over 110 companies along with 160,000 trade visitors. Products are presented by category in eight different halls.

Thirty-two companies exhibited on the Bord Bia Origin Green stands while ABP and Dawn Meats had their own independent exhibitions.

“It’s mind-blowing, the volume of business being done and the amount of companies showing their wares here,” said Barry O’Connor, a dairy farmer from Youghal, Co Cork.

“As you walk around you realise there’s an awful lot of people here buying and there’s a lot to play for.”

The Bord Bia stand held a prominent position in the meat hall, where competition from all the major beef factories worldwide was strong. Within a few yards of the Irish companies you could be on stands from Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and the UK.

We don’t want to compete on price, we choose to compete in a differentiated premium market because that is where we can capture the most value for our farmers

“You’ve got visitors from all the main markets – SIAL is a particularly good one for the European market and is a good networking opportunity,” said CEO of the Kepak frozen division, Stephen Keating. “It’s about making that connection with your existing customerss – put your brand out there.”

With such strong competition, how can Ireland compete? Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy says that what sets us apart is the Origin Green brand.

“When we speak to our buyers, I’m talking about high-value buyers, they are looking for that message around sustainability, they are looking for solutions that are looking at the issues that they face every day and there is no country in a position to provide them with those solutions at the scale that Ireland is,” McCarthy said.

“We don’t want to compete on price, we choose to compete in a differentiated premium market because that is where we can capture the most value for our farmers.”

SIAL is a biennial event, making this the last one before Brexit. Inevitably it was a major point of conversation among exhibitors and buyers. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board for the UK had 12 meat companies exhibiting on its meat stand, which was humming with activity. Dr Phil Haddley, international market development director with AHDB, said that the discussions taking place were key building blocks for their relationships with European buyers.

“We know change is coming, we don’t know what changes look like so we are preparing for lots of different eventualities,” Haddley said.

AHDB has published a series of post-Brexit scenario models called Horizon reports.

“We don’t know the outcome but they might give you an idea of what you should do in a particular circumstance.

“It’s about day one readiness and preparedness going forward.”