International Buyers With Purchasing Power of €18 billion Attend Irish Food and Drink Event
The Irish food and drink industry’s ambitions for growth and expansion moved a further step forward today when over 520 food buyers from 28 countries across four continents, gathered at Dublin’s Convention Centre to attend Marketplace International 2012, a major one-day business development event organised by Bord Bia. Some 177 Irish food and drink companies, ranging in size and profile from small enterprises to multinationals, are meeting with targeted buyers during 4,500 pre-scheduled ‘speed-dating’ style meetings taking place throughout the day.
The trade buyers, with a collective buying power in excess of €18 billion, represent some of the world’s key retail and food service operators including Sainsburys, Selfridges, Tesco, Asda, Carrefour, Delhaize (Belgium), Mercadona (Spain) and Alcampo (Spain). Marketplace International 2012 is the largest buyer event Bord Bia has ever staged.
In addition to a strong representation of UK and European buyers, 14 representatives from leading Chinese retail and food service companies travelled to the event; while 17 buyers from the Middle East and 12 from Russia also attended.
The value of Irish food and drink exports increased by 12%, or €1 billion, in 2011 to reach an all-time high of €8.85 billion. It is estimated that volume growth accounted for 25% of the rise in food and drink exports. The strongest performing categories were dairy (€2.6 billion), meat (€2.59 billion), prepared foods (€1.5 billion) and seafood (€420 million). The value of exports outside of Europe grew by 20%, or €350 million, to reach almost €2.2 billion.
