Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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250. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which food and food products such as beef, lamb, pigmeat, diary or poultry have been imported into this country in each of the past five years to date; the extent to which trends have been noticeable throughout; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37226/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Central Statistics Office provides my Department with statistics on the value and volume of Irish trade in agri-food and prepared consumer foods. Agri-food statistics include agricultural produce not for human consumption, such as animal feed or forestry and wood products. Figures for 2023 are currently preliminary.

The total value of agri-food imports grew from €9.99 billion in 2019 to €13.17 billion in 2023, an increase of 31.8%. Volume grew by a lesser 1.2% during the same period, from 11.90 million tonnes to 12.04 million tonnes. There was a similar trend in imports of prepared consumer foods, which saw value rise by 30.9% between 2019 and 2023, from €3.76 billion to €4.92 billion. Volume grew by 1.1%, from 2.39 million tonnes to 2.42 million tonnes.

Table One below shows the value and volume of agri-food imports into Ireland during each of the past five full years, 2019-2023, by category. Table Two shows the same statistics for Irish imports of prepared consumer foods, by category.

Table One: Value and Volume of Agri-Food Imports, 2019-2023

Table Two: Value and Volume of Prepared Consumer Food Imports, 2019-2023

Overall, agri-food and prepared consumer food imports have typically grown to a greater extent during these five years in terms of their nominal value than their volume. Table three below shows the change in the value and volume of imports in selected agri-food categories between 2019 and 2023.

Table Three: Change in the Value and Volume of Imports in Selected Agri-Food Categories between 2019 and 2023

It is important to consider agri-food imports in the context of corresponding exports, which grew by €3.63 billion or 24.8% between 2019 and 2023 overall - despite a fall in the volume of agri-food exports of 130,577 tonnes (1.7%).

Ireland recorded an agri-food trade surplus of more than €5 billion in 2023, and trade surpluses were recorded in several of the most valuable individual categories of agri-food in each of the past five years. In 2023, for example, trade surpluses were recorded for dairy produce (€5.25 billion); beef (€2.79 billion); pigmeat (€525 million); sheepmeat (€384 million); and fish (€196 million).