Rising prices lift Irish food and drink exports to €17bn for 2024

Bord Bia’s annual Performance and Prospects launch this week estimates that value of Irish food and drinks exports increased by 5% in 2024 to a record €17bn. Rising prices were key in the delivery of this figure, with a strong recovery in the value of drinks exports, increasing by €333m, or 19%, to €2.1bn, the biggest increase.

The prepared consumer foods (PCF) category delivered an extra 7% of additional export value, bringing the total to €3.4bn for 2024.

Rising beef values combined with additional volume added an extra €156m, or 6%, to beef export values, bringing the total value, including offal, to €2.9bn.

Pigmeat export values were up 7% to €491m, live exports increased by 29% to €342m; horticulture and cereals increased by 4% to €323m, and seafood increased by 9% to €595m.

However, it wasn’t all positive. Irish farmers enjoyed record sheepmeat prices in 2024, but the volume of exports slumped by a huge 23% though the higher value meant just a 6% decline in value, to just under €400m.

Dairy remains Ireland’s largest food export category and the 2024 value of €6.3bn was the same as the previous year, but the volume of sales was 5% down on 2023. Both whole and skim milk powders were among the biggest fallers.

Dairy (Figure 1)

After a decade of spectacular growth, exports values for Irish dairy fell by 8% in 2023 to €6.3bn and this was also the value for 2024, despite the volume of exports falling by 5%. Bord Bia estimate that milk collections fell by 2.5% to 8.3bn litres, the second year that milk supply declined since the ending of quotas in 2015.

Butter was described by Bord Bia as “the powerhouse” behind raising dairy prices in 2024. It was the star performer of Irish dairy exports, with the value increasing by 31% to €1.7bn. This was due to rising wholesale prices, which ranged between €5,430 and €7,810 per tonne, as the volume exported was only marginally higher, up 1% to just over 243,000 tonnes. Cheese remained the second largest dairy export, worth €1.3bn, a marginal 1% increase in value, with a 1% decline in volume to 276,595t.

It was a mixed year for milk powders. Fat filled milk powder (FFMP) returned a similar export value to 2023 at €825m, with volume up by 5% to 308,126t, but there was a slump in the value and volume of skimmed milk powder (SMP) exported. The value was down 33% to €371,838, while the volume exported fell by 36% to 135,501t and whole milk powder (WMP) export value fell by 40% to €123,886, with volume down 42% to 35,390t.

Despite infant food export volumes increasing by almost one third to 118,274t, the value was marginally lower than the previous year at €828m, while the value of casein exports fell 11% to €471m even though the volume exported increased by 13% to 63,959t.

Markets

Bord Bia reports that EU markets were the top performer in 2024 for Irish dairy exports, with the value up 6% to €2.4bn, compared with 2023 with France, Germany and Belgium, the key buyers. The UK continues to be a significant market taking €1.1bn of Irish exports in 2024, an increase of 2% on the previous year and accounting for 17% of total Irish dairy exports. The North American market continues to grow, with sales up 4% in 2024 to €840m, with Bord Bia highlighting the “strength of grass-fed Irish dairy in the US” and butter exports increasing by “more than a quarter in value and volume terms.” Africa remained an important market for Irish dairy in 2024, accounting for 11% of total Irish dairy exports and taking €705m of sales, an increase of 4% on the previous year.

It wasn’t all positive, exports to Asia were down 10% to €755m, a fall of almost €100m on the previous year. The decline in China was a major contributor to this, with exports to that country down 13% caused by a combination of increased domestic supply, cost competitive supplies from Oceania and the ongoing decline in value for imported infant nutrition.

Meat and livestock (Figure 2)

Beef is Ireland’s second largest agrifood export category, with a value of €2.8bn in 2024, plus a further €135m of offal, a 6% increase on 2023. The volume of Irish beef exported also increased by 2.4% to 557,000t, including offal, of which 507,000t were primary beef, a 3% increase on the previous year. Bord Bia highlights that supply volumes were impacted by lower carcase weights in 2024, which were estimated to be 5% lower but this was more than offset by a stock carryover from 2023 into 2024.

Market performance

The report highlights that the farm gate price for the Irish R3 steer in 2024 increased by 3% compared with 2023 to €5.12/kg while the EU average R3 young bull price was €5.10/kg in 2024, up from €4.96/kg in 2023. Bord Bia attributes the increase to “consumer demand rebounding and limited supplies” leading to the farmgate price of beef strengthening in the second half of the year.

The UK remains the largest export destination for Irish beef by a distance, taking 47% of all beef exported in 2024, just 1% lower than in 2023. The value of exports to this market increased by 5% to €1.3bn but Irish beef remained keenly priced compared with the UK R3 steer, which averaged the equivalent of €5.81/kg in 2024. Despite higher beef prices, Bord Bia reports that consumer demand in the UK remained robust, with retail volume sales increasing by 0.5% in the second half of the year.

Even though many EU countries had higher kills in 2024, Irish beef exports to the EU increased by 3% to €1.3bn. The report highlights that “demand remained strong for forequarter, mince and manufacturing beef while higher value cuts such as steaks also improved later in the year”.

Beef sales outside Europe also increased in 2024 but overall this accounts for just 7% of all Irish beef exports. The Philippines is the biggest market, worth €30m in 2024 while there was a good increase in sales to North America, up 72% but from a very low base. The US market was worth €10m while experts to Canada were worth €20m.

Sheepmeat

Despite record farm gate prices which Bord Bia report increased by 16% in 2024, the volume of Irish sheepmeat exported slumped by 23% to just 56,000 tonnes. The rising value of the product meant that the fall in export value was limited to a 6% decline to €400m the lowest value for Irish sheep-meat exports since 2021. Bord Bia attribute the fall in production to a drop in breeding ewes for a second successive year, difficult weather conditions during lambing season and a drop in the volume of live imports from Northern Ireland.

France continues to be the main export market for Irish sheepmeat, accounting for one third of total export value at €130m in 2024. Sales to the UK at €65m were similar to the previous year, but growth in trade with Northern Ireland meant reduced shipments to Britain.

Live exports

Live exports recorded a 30% increase in value in 2024 to €340m, with three quarters of this accounted for by the 360,000 head of cattle exported. Bord Bia estimates that circa 200,000 head were calves exported mainly to Spain, Italy and the Netherlands plus eastern Europe.

Northern Ireland accounted for 48% of live cattle exports as either store cattle or slaughter ready cattle and Morocco was also a significant destination for live exports. Pig exports to Northern Ireland increased by 10% to 400,000 head, while 35,000 head of sheep were exported live with an estimated value of €6m.

Pig and poultry meat

Despite the small number of commercial pig and poultry producers, these categories generated export sales of €491m and €138m respectively in 2024. This makes pig- meat the third highest value category of Irish agricultural exports after dairy and beef, with volume and value up 7% in 2024. Poultry value was down just over 3%, while volume fell just over 4%.

Horticulture and cereals

This category is dominated by mushrooms, which account for 48% of the total export value of €325m for all horticulture and cereals exports. The domestic market for animal feed, food and drinks is the main outlet for Irish cereals, but the sector also generated €90m of exports in 2024, a decline of 7% on the previous year. Northern Ireland is the main outlet, taking 75% of sales. Potatoes, fruit and vegetables also contributed, while amenity horticulture, though not a food, is also included in this category, contributing 7% of the export value in 2024.

Comment

Bord Bia has provided an excellent snapshot of the state of Irish food and drink exports for the year just ended. With export values passing €17bn for the first time in 2024 and 54% higher than the €10.7bn recorded for 2015, the sector has contributed hugely to Irish export growth over the past decade.

However, despite positive market signals for the year ahead, clouds hang over Irish agriculture.

Dairy farm incomes will have recovered in 2024, but the sector faces uncertainty over the nitrates derogation and the drop in export volumes suggests the decade of expansion is at an end.

For all other categories, farm incomes are a concern.