Why are Irish consumers favouring non-Irish foodstuffs?

Reports today suggest that Irish consumers are spending huge amounts of money of foodstuffs they wrongly believe are Irish. So how much are we spending and how are we getting it so wrong?

By Declan Whooley

So Irish consumers are buying products they believe are Irish. How much exactly are we importing anyway?

Reports today suggest that we spend more than €1.5 billion on imported branded food products every year.

€1.5 billion? If only we spent a bit more on Irish products.

That’s exactly what Love Irish Food has been preaching. They estimate that if we bought just two more home-grown products a week (no, not that type of 'home-grown' produce) in our daily shop then it would boost Irish firms to the tune of €300m and reduce our expenditure on imports. Sound logic if you ask us.

So how are Irish consumers inadvertently buying exported products?

It seems that the biggest reason is the confusion over what exactly an ‘Irish’ product is. The majority of consumers are not aware that brands such as HB ice-cream and Siucra are produced overseas.

According to Love Irish Food, 77 per cent of households believe Lyons Tea is produced in Ireland, but is in fact packed in the UK for Dutch firm Unilever.

Wait a minute... Siucra isn’t produced in Ireland?

No, similar to Lyons and HB ice-cream, consumers assume it is, but it is actually processed overseas and shipped here by a German firm Nordzucker.

How much do we spend on branded groceries in Ireland then?

Figures released from the Kantar World Panel Show indicate that we spend €7.1 billion annually on groceries, of which €3.3 billion is spent on branded goods. The remaining €3.8 billion then goes on unbranded and supermarket own-label goods.

Of this, €1.5 billion is on imported goods. Love Irish Food are trying to highlight the fact that consumers are often unaware that they are not putting their money back into Irish producers.

So we are being encouraged to switch to Irish produced goods. Any examples?

It wouldn’t suit everyone’s taste buds, but Love Irish Food has come up with a number of alternatives. Choosing Barry’s Tea instead of Lyons – the people of Cork are rejoicing – Avonmore soups instead of Cully & Sully and Batchelors beans instead of Heinz would contribute more to Irish producers.

Barrys, Batchelors and Avonmore it is so!

At least that's supper sorted.