Bord Bia, the Irish food board, was able to report some good news with findings that Irish food and drink exports received a 12 percent boost in 2011. With the increase, exports reached an all time high gross of $11.2 billion (€8.85 bn).

In their Export Performance and Prospect for 2011/2012, Bord Bia noted that during the first nine months of 2011, “food and drink exports increased at three times the rate of total merchandise exports.”

Due to the increase, the “sector accounted for 25% of the rise in total export revenue.” 
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Bord Bia also reports that the trend in food and drink exports has been on the up and up over the last two years. The value of Irish food and drink exports has increased by €1.8 billion, or 25%, in last two years.

Bord Bia names a number of factors to that the boost may have come from. They include “strong global prices for major commodities, a positive supply/demand balance in some key categories, a tentative return to price inflation across most major European markets and reduced volatility in exchange rates.”

All areas, except for livestock, saw a boost in export. The top performers in 2011 were dairy, meat and seafood.

While Bord Bia remains hopeful for a continued boost through 2012, they are cautious that “lower output availability in some sectors combined with some anticipated softening in global commodity prices are likely to result in more limited growth potential."