Food exports up in 2012
News in today that Ireland’s agri-business exports for 2012 surpassed €9 billion for the first time ever according to new figures released by Bord Bia. The storngest sector was bmeat and livestock (€3 bn), drinks (€1.26 bn) and seafood was a strong €463 million. There are strong signs of confidence in the agri-business sector with 77% of exporters experiencing growth last year and 75% expecting this to continue across 2013. In respect of Origin Green the Bord announced that a total of 164 companies have registered for the mark, representing 60% of exports from the industry. Amongst these firms there are committments to targets such as reducing energy use by 20% by 2015 and emissions by 30% by the end of 2020. As someone once famously said, ‘a lot done, more to do!