Ireland is keen on increasing its dairy exports to the Philippines with the launch of a campaign focused in Asia.
The Irish government, through Bord Bia, an agency that manages the promotion, trade development and marketing of the country’s food, drink and horticulture industry, is leading the campaign to drive €15 million (P898.7 million) worth of dairy export to Malaysia and the Philippines.
Under the campaign, Ireland targets 10,000 Asian dairy buyers from Malaysia and the Philippines over the next two years and seeing buyers from Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines visit Irish dairy farms and processors.
Jim O’Toole, Bord Bia chief executive officer, said the plan highlights the optimistic outlook of the dairy and beef products in the Philippines.
According to Bia, the Philippines likely imports far more than Malaysia. He said that in 2022, Ireland reported growth in dairy exports to the Philippines increasing by 107 percent to €72 million (P4.31 billion) from 2021’s €35 million (P2.1 billion).
According to the National Dairy Authority, the bulk of the country’s milk and dairy are imports, reaching 595.64 million kilograms in 2022, a 13.6 percent higher that 2021’s 523.95 million kilograms. In terms of value, imports rose 37 percent from $1.2 billion to $1.64 billion, an increase of 23 percent in dollar terms.
The United States proved the leading source of imported dairy products in the Philippines as of end-2022, accounting for 33 percent of total dairy import bill, followed by New Zealand with 27 percent, Belgium with 6 percent and Australia with 4 percent.
Apart from dairy products, Martin Heydon, Irish Minister of State for Research and Development, Farm Safety and New Market Development, said they also see the potential to improve shipment of beef, pork, sheep meat, seafood and drinks to the Philippines.
“In terms of the future, the potential is really significant. We discussed food security quite a bit in terms of the deficits in the region and how we can help supply and address some of those… nutrient dense, high protein foods and drink products that could really be a benefit to a large population here in the Philippines,” Heydon said.
In 2022, Irish beef exports to the Philippines grew 91.4 percent to €49 million (P2.94 billion) as pork exports rose by 71.4 percent to €24 million (P1.44 billion).
