Irish eyes smiling on West Midlands food and drinks sector
WEST Midlands firms are being urged to take advantage of opportunities offered by one of the region’s largest export markets and one which is especially profitable for the food and drink industry.
The opportunities, which focus on Ireland, will be outlined when buyers and trade experts from around the world attend the NEC on March 24 for the Food and Drink Expo 2014, organised by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).
The support agency has arranged for food and drink companies to get the chance to win new business by meeting key overseas decision-makers as well as getting one-to-one advice such as a leading industry expert from the British Embassy in Dublin.
Paul Noon, Regional Director for UKTI West Midlands, said: “Ireland has consistently been a top trade market for West Midlands business – our sixth largest for the last decade. Food and drink has been the main industry to benefit from this strong trading link. Lord Livingston’s recent visit to Dublin further reinforces that it is one of our most important and reliable trade destinations.”
Lord Livingston, who spoke at the annual IBEC CEO Conference in Dublin, said: “Ireland is a very special friend. We already have an impressive record of collaboration, built on shared experience and values, supported by personal, political and economic ties and a future full of opportunity, for ever closer partnership and cooperation. Many UK companies operate very successfully in Ireland.”
Noon said the Food and Drink expo was a flagship event for UKTI as it gave local companies the chance to meet experts from around the world without having to leave the region.
He said overseas customers valued high-quality British food and drink products such as those made by Oswestry’s Story Brands Ltd.
Overseas sales for its soft drink product account for half of the small company’s annual turnover.
There is more than €1m of trade conducted between the UK and Ireland every week. For January to November 2013 the value of UK exports to Ireland were over £16bn – an increase of more than £1bn on the same period in 2012. Bilateral trade was over £27bn for the same period.
In the West Midlands, the Irish market was worth £247m in the third quarter of 2013.
Ireland is the UK’s fifth largest export market, worth around £27bn in 2012 and the UK is Ireland’s largest trading partner. The UK accounts for 34% of imports to Ireland – 17% of all Irish exports go to the UK, totalling €15.2bn and Ireland is the UK’s largest export market for the Food & Drink sector.
