1.6 Contribution of the Food and Beverages Sector

Food and beverage enterprises The CSO Business Demography release provides data on the number of enterprises and the number of persons engaged in these enterprises. The latest data available is up to 2020. In that year there were 2,046 active food products, beverage and tobacco enterprises, up from 1,966 in 2019 and 2,034 in 2018. Despite the increase in number of enterprises, the number of persons engaged in these enterprises fell slightly from 55,731 in 2019 to 54,669 in 2020. However, between 2015 and 2020 the number of persons engaged in active food products, beverage and tobacco enterprises grew by over 10.5% or 5,205 persons while the number of enterprises grew by 13.5% or 243 enterprises.

The numbers employed in these enterprises had been increasing each year between 2015 and 2019 but in 2020 this trend was reversed, and numbers employed dropped by 1,062. This may have been due to the closure of the food service industry due to the impact of COVID-19 in 2020.

2,100

57,000

56,000

2,050

Figure 1.3 Active Food Products, Beverages and Tobacco Enterprises & Persons Engaged.

55,000

2,000

54,000

Active Enterprises

Persons Engaged

1,950

53,000

1,900

52,000

51,000

1,850

50,000

1,800

49,000

1,750

48,000

1,700

47,000

1,650 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

46,000

Active enterprises Persons engaged

Source: CSO (BRA11)

Of the total enterprises, 3% or 57 enterprises had 250 persons or more engaged. These larger enterprises had a total of 30,714 persons engaged or 56% of the total. Seventy seven percent or 1,578 of enterprises had less than 10 people engaged for a total of 3,008 persons or 6% of total engaged persons.

Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact (ABSEI) The Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact (ABSEI) 2021 is a survey of approximately 4,200 client companies of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta, employing ten or more employees in Ireland. All IDA Ireland clients are foreign-owned while Enterprise Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta have both Irish and foreign-owned client companies. It comprises the Manufacturing & Information, Communication and Other Internationally Traded Services sectors. This survey includes a number of Food and Beverage Manufacturers. The first ABSEI survey was conducted in 2000 and the results for 2021 look back over the past 21 years.

Key findings in this report for Irish-owned clients include:

Irish-owned firms have increased their export intensity from 38% in 2000 to 53% intensity M in 2021.

The largest sector for Irish-owned clients is the Food, Drink & Primary Production sector M with sales of €18.1 billion in 2021 – an increase of 12.0% over 2020 and of 3.3% per annum increase over the 2000 figure of €9.2billion.

While the Food, Drink & Primary Production sector accounted for 35% of the sales in Irish- M owned industry in 2021, it accounts for 25% of the employment.

The Food, Drink & Primary Production sector accounted for 40% of all export sales by M Irish-owned companies in 2021. This sector has increased exports from €4.5bn in 2000 to €10.4bn in 2021, a per annum increase of 4.1% in current prices.

The Food, Drink & Primary Production sector has an export intensity of 57% in 2021, which M is an increase on its 2000 intensity ratio of 49%.

Figure 1.4 Exports by Sector in Irish-owned Companies Client Firms, 2000, 2012, 2021

14.0

12.0

10.0

Billion Euro

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0

Information & communication services

Energy, water, waste

Traditional

Modern manufacturing

Business, financial

Food, drink

& primary

& construction

manufacturing

& other services

production

2000 2012 2021

Source: Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact

Value-added per person employed in Food and Drink Manufacturing is estimated at M €82,800 in 2021, an increase of 4.5% per annum in nominal terms since 2000.

The Food, Drink & Primary Production sector purchased the majority or 81% of its materials M in Ireland in 2021 valued at €10.3 billion. Of all the Irish raw materials purchases by Irish owned firms, the majority or 72% related to the Food and Drink sector in 2021.

The proportion of Irish services purchased by Irish-owned firms, ranges from 44% for M Business, Financial and Other Services firms to 84% for Food, Drink & Primary Production firms in 2021.

The Food, Drink & Primary Production sector maintained the highest share of direct M expenditure as a percentage of sales at 76% in 2021 down from 82% in 2000.

Key Business Indicators for Foreign-owned Agency Clients include:

The vast majority of products and services produced by foreign-owned firms are destined M for export, with an export intensity of 96% in 2021, at this constant level since 2015.

Foreign firms spend less on Irish materials and more on payroll and Irish services than Irish M firms.

The Food, Drink & Primary Production sector, with an 88% share of sales for export in M 2021, increased its proportion of exports from 59% in 2000.

The largest proportion of Irish-sourced materials is found in the Food, Drink & Primary M Production sector where 42% of all materials purchased were sourced in Ireland. In monetary terms, this amounted to €950 million spent in Ireland in 2020.

The share of total services sourced in Ireland by foreign-owned Food & Drink sector M declined from the 2000 figure of 43% to 28% in 2021 (Absolute value €475.8 million).

Figure from page 23