Meat and dairy processors have welcomed the opportunity to develop new markets outside the UK, following the announcement of a €100m capital investment fund for the sector.
The Capital Investment Scheme for Processing and Marketing of Agricultural Products was announced by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue on Monday.
Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the representative group of Irish meat factories, said a support fund to diversify the meat processing sector had been a priority for several years in the context of Brexit.
Disruption
An agreement between the EU and UK to maintain a tariff-free trading environment was welcome, it said, but MII warned the sector still faced higher costs and disruption through customs and bureaucracy.
Grain being tipped at the Boortmalt grain intake at Athy, Co Kildare.
I heard on the grapevine that Boortmalt, now the world’s largest maltster, may be set to sell two of its properties here in Ireland.
Boortmalt, which has a malting plant in Athy, seems to be looking for another grain assembler or assemblers to take over the branches.
This is in keeping with its trend of outsourcing malting barley from private grain merchants, as it does in some regions already. If the trend continues, it is unclear how this will affect the annual price negotiations with the IFA.