DESPITE A 6.5 per cent decline in Irish food and drink exports to €8.16 billion last year, Bord Bia has announced a plan to increase exports by more than 20 per cent to reach €10 billion by 2011.

Aidan Cotter, chief executive, said that despite the drop last year the performance was impressive considering 43 per cent of exports went to the UK market where sterling depreciated by 22 per cent against the euro.

“Exchange rate movements also affected exports to destinations outside of Europe, which last year amounted to 24 per cent of the total. The dollar was significantly weaker for much of 2008, and while the average decline across the year was over 7 per cent, the cumulative depreciation since 2006 reached 17 per cent,” he said.

Meat and livestock performed best last year, up by 2 per cent to €2.58 billion. Pigmeat fell by 2 per cent to €360 million, he said, and it would be difficult to reopen closed markets for it until the product recall was fully complete.

Dairy prices fell, resulting in sales dropping back 5 per cent to €2.2 billion, and exports of alcoholic beverages, affected by slower consumer spending and the weakness of the US dollar, declined by 13 per cent to €1.25 billion.

Mr Cotter said food markets remained relatively stable during recessions. People still ate food but tended to buy cheaper food and use discount stores. They switched from steaks to mince.

Mr Cotter and Dan Browne, chairman of An Bord Bia, said the strongest growth potential for the future was in the dairy and beef sectors.

Dairy quotas were increasing, said Mr Cotter, and our dairy sector was world class, while on the beef side Ireland was the largest beef exporter in the northern hemisphere.

He said the plan was to drive the success of a world-class Irish food, drink and horticulture industry through strategic market development and information services.

It would also concentrate on the home market where it emerged Irish people spent just over €4 billion or €1,000 each annually on imported food, a figure which increased by 50 per cent in the years 2000-2007.