Written answer
Food Industry
395. Deputy David Maxwell asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to the figures published in Bord Bia’s Export Performance and Prospects Report 2025/2026 (details supplied), the total value and volume of beef, poultry and other meat products exported from Ireland in 2025; of these exports, the value and volume derived from animals reared and slaughtered in Ireland; the value and volume of meat products that were imported into Ireland and subsequently processed, altered, packaged or otherwise value-added before being exported again; the estimated proportion of Ireland’s meat export value that relates to Irish farm-produced livestock versus imported meat products processed in Ireland for export; whether his Department maintains data distinguishing between “reared in Ireland”, “slaughtered in Ireland” and “processed in Ireland” in the export statistics reported by Bord Bia; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23478/26]
Comment on this
The Central Statistics Office is responsible for official trade statistics in Ireland, while Eurostat has that responsibility at EU level.
The table below gives the breakdown of the value and volume of meat exported from and imported into Ireland in 2025.
It should be noted that figures for 2025 are preliminary estimates and subject to revision.
Data is not captured on the processing, altering, packaging or value-added of meat products in official trade statistics. Data on “reared in Ireland”, “slaughtered in Ireland” and “processed in Ireland” is not captured by the official trade statistics.
The CSO's meat supply balance shows that Ireland’s self-sufficiency rate for Total Meat, which measures the extent to which the production of Irish meat can meet domestic demand, increased from 230% to 233% in 2024 while the self-sufficiency rate for Beef & Veal rose from 680% to 701% in the same period. Data for 2025 is not yet available.
Further information on agri-food sector trade can be found in chapter six of the Annual Review and Outlook for Agriculture, Food and the Marine 2024-2025 (www.gov.ie/en/department-of-agriculture-food-and-the-marine/publications/annual-review-and-outlook-for-agriculture-food-and-the-marine-2024/) my Department's annual economic publication.