Bord Bia's Brexit Briefing, which took place yesterday July 6, brought over 180 Irish food and drink exporters, as well as experts from the UK food retail market, together to share information on the post-BREXIT trading landscape and discuss the organisation's course of action for supporting companies, as they navigate the new trading environment.
Irish companies that expressed its concerns for more information, in the Bord Bia's post-BREXIT survey, were given insights from experts on current UK and EU market conditions and currency management. The following panel discussions were developed to aid exporters identify future pressure points in their business models that may require attention.
Aidan Cotter, Chief Executive of Bord Bia opened the briefing session stating "The purpose of the briefing is to explore and begin to understand the implications of BREXIT for a market that takes 41% of our food and drink exports, valued at €4.4 billion.
"Our hope is that today's event may advance all of our deliberations and if we can't resolve the uncertainty, and clearly we can't, that at least we can now begin to learn how we can deal with it and live with it. The learnings from today and our ongoing close contact with our clients will inform our future supports for the sector."
Assistant Secretary general, Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, Bríd Cannon provided a synopsis of potential UK/EU trading relations. She outlined the timetable for negotiating the UK exit, the resulting trade agreement framework, and the time open to companies to adapt to new trading environments.
Chief Economist with IGD, James Walton, provided information on the macroeconomic ramifications of BREXIT on the UK grocery market and Senior Economist, John Fahey, along with Senior Relationship Manager, John Sheils, both of AIB, addressed the immediate concern of companies in relation to currency exposure.
There were two discussion panels that focused on the UK retail market and on Irish exporters' obstacles. The UK perspective was examined by James Walton of IGD; Joanna Walker, former retail buyer in the UK, and Jon Copestake, Editor and Chief Retail & Consumer Goods Analyst for The Economist.
The Irish industry consultants put the exporters' view of ramifications of BREXIT with input from Larry Murrin, Chief Executive at Dawn Farm Foods; Paul Finnerty, Chief Executive of ABP Food Group, and Eoin Donnelly, Managing Director of Lily O’Brien’s.
Presenting Bord Bia’s support measures for food companies, Aidan Cotter commented, "These measures were tailored to the needs of exporters and informed by one-to-one contacts with our clients and our post BREXIT survey, and will now be supplemented as necessary following today`s exchanges. They are focused on assisting companies maintain their competitiveness through providing advice on managing volatility impacts, provision of consumer and market insight, deepening customer engagement and extending market reach".
© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Julianna Novellino
