Food firms lead way on recession busting
NORTHERN Ireland food producers are selling more than £600 million worth of goods outside the UK as they tackle the recession, Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said yesterday.
Speaking at a breakfast hosted by the Ulster Farmers’ Union, she said the industry was one of the few in the Province to show growth in sales and employment despite the pressure on the economy.
“Output grew by 10 per cent and, additionally, the sector displaying significant employment growth year on year of 2.9 per cent,” she said.
“As a result of a strategic focus on developing new markets, Northern Ireland is now among the biggest suppliers of food and drink to Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
“Products worth more than 600m are also sold to markets outside the United Kingdom. When sales to Great Britain of more than 1.5billion are included, the proportion of goods sold to customers outside Northern Ireland rises to more than 60 per cent. Overall, it provides 15 per cent of manufactured goods exported.”
Describing the Farmhouse Business Breakfast event as “a celebration of an industry that is at the very core of Northern Ireland’s economy,” Mrs Foster said the industry as a whole was presently worth almost 3bn a year and employed 19,220 people.
With a strong commitment to innovation, she said it contributed 14 per cent to manufacturing Gross Value Added to the Northern Ireland economy.
“Over the past 18 months one-to-one buying sessions have been held for local companies with all of the biggest food retailers in the British Isles and in Europe,” she said.
“More than 800 face-to-face meetings have been arranged in the past 12 months and 80 local companies have achieved 275 product listings with multiples such as Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury, Tesco and Asda as well as the foodservice sector from ‘meet the buyer’ events at Invest NI’s offices.
“The total new business achieved on this is an impressive 40m and growing. Northern Ireland has much to be proud of in terms of commitment to excellence, professionalism and the successful focus on exporting.
“Companies, both large and small, are now competing and winning because of the quality, wholesomeness and originality of their products and the strength of their commitment to excellent customer service.”
As an example, she highlighted the success of local bakeries in selling their product throughout Great Britain, while the red meat industry was generating annual revenue in excess of 1bn, selling around 40 per cent of output to retailers in countries such as the Netherlands, France and Spain.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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