Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 October 2023
257. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which Irish agriculture continues to compete strongly with other competitors in the Irish and European markets as well as third countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47246/23]
View answerFood Vision 2030 sets out a clear ambition to grow the value of Irish exports over the next ten years. This ambition will be realised by implementing actions that are focused on market diversification as well as investment in innovation at producer and processor level, which will drive the competitiveness of Ireland's agri-food offering on Irish and international markets.
In 2022 exports of agri-food goods were valued at almost €19 billion, an increase of €3.4 billion or 22% on 2021 driven by growth of exports of dairy produce by €1.7 billion, beef by €620 million, beverages by €297million and animal feed €150 million.
The export performance in 2022 also shows that destination of our exports was spread almost evenly across UK, EU and other 3rd countries outside of the EU market, respectively representing 32%, 34% and 34% of total exports in value terms. This export performance demonstrates that Irish products continue to be competitive on international markets and also underlines the resilience of the sector even in the face of recent challenges presented by geopolitical and global events such as Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, the COVID19 pandemic and Brexit.
I and my department continue to monitor market conditions and remains focused on supporting the sector to meet it growth and development ambitions.
