Bord Bia has opened an office in Schiphol in the Netherlands, which is currently Ireland’s third largest export market globally for food and drink.
The Netherlands is an important strategic partner to the Irish food and drinks sector and has accounted for 16% of all Irish agri-food export growth in the last five years, the group outlined.
In particular, it is an important market for Irish dairy and meat: 53% of the exports are in dairy and the Netherlands is the third largest EU market for Irish beef, with Irish beef having national distribution in all of the major retail and foodservice chains.
“The official opening of our new Schiphol office space represents a doubling down on our commitment to the key strategic market that is the Netherlands," Tara McCarthy Bord Bia’s CEO said.
"The office and its talented team are equipped to guide and support Irish companies as we work collectively to meet the challenge of achieving €1 billion in Irish agri-food exports to the Netherlands by 2025."
Wider Market
Bord Bia said that the Schiphol office forms an important element of Bord Bia’s wider market diversification strategy: a strategy implemented in response to the changing export landscape facing Irish agri-food companies.
Mc Carthy added: "Our market insights tell us that Dutch consumers appreciate and value the premium offering inherent in Irish agri-food products and that there is significant scope for us to develop and grow our trade relationship with the country – both as an end-destination for our world-class products and as a key strategic partner with the capacity to add value to our best-in-class raw materials.”
The office is one of a network of 14 Bord Bia offices around the globe; these overseas offices are responsible for insights and market data gathering and business lead generation on behalf of Irish food and drinks exporters in their respective international markets.
This is the second international office to be opened by the agency in 2019, with a Tokyo office having been opened in the summer.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
