As Greece faces up to the prospect of further austerity following last weekend's Eurozone meeting, figures obtained by Checkout magazine from Bord Bia indicate that Irish food and drink exports to the country fell last year by around €4 million, with the biggest drop off seen in Dairy exports.
Irish food and drink exports to Greece stood at €23.98 million in 2014, down from €27.92 million in 2013.
Dairy accounted for €18.58 million worth of exports, down from €21.31 million in 2013. Prepared Foods exports more than halved in the period, accounting for €911k worth of exports last year, down from €1.92 million worth of exports in 2013.
Beverage exports also declined, from €3.64 million to €3.24 million.
The biggest increases in exports to Greece were seen in the Seafood category, where exports increased to €980k (from €878k), Beef, where exports rose to €246k (up from €138k) and Poultry, where exports rose to €19.9k.
Commenting at the end of a marathon series of talks on Sunday night over Greece's future, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the talks as a "pretty bruising experience. […] But what it allows for is a document that is agreed now that will be the basis for negotiation for a third bailout for Greece, which will allow the Greek economy to thrive and prosper and continue to remain a member of the eurozone."
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras will put the controversial reforms to his parliament tomorrow.
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
