Food chain reactions

Enterprise Ireland is actively supporting an increasing number of international food investments in Ireland, explains Nick Marmion.

Enterprise Ireland client companies reported a very strong year in 2014 in terms of export growth and job creation, and international food companies with operations in Ireland are a very important part of this performance.

Over €85m was invested in international companies in the Irish agri-food sector in 2014 and these companies have a major impact on the Irish economy in terms of direct investment, growth potential and job creation. In general, international companies use 70% local products and resources meaning that the positive knock-on effect for the local economy is very significant.

Added to this is the growth of Irish food multinationals such as Kerry and Glanbia which have enjoyed phenomenal success across the world and are dominate players in key international markets. They continue to expand with Enterprise Ireland support, joining the world’s top 50 largest food and beverage multinationals in the world.

All in all, the graph is very definitely pointing upwards. As well as supporting indigenous food companies to grow their business and create jobs, Enterprise Ireland is also responsible for working with existing international food companies as they develop their activities in Ireland. Equally, attracting ‘new-name’ greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) manufacturing operations, research and innovation and joint ventures to Ireland is of crucial importance.

Brand Ireland

Enterprise Ireland markets Ireland across the globe and key markets include the US, UK, Europe and Asia where they are currently in discussions on a number of new-name projects for Ireland. Ministerial-led trade missions, trade shows and lead generation campaigns are all used to create awareness of Ireland as a destination of choice for international food companies.

These activities are part of Ireland’s drive to win new international investment and the results speak for themselves.

Coupled with this drive to attract new-name global food companies to invest in Ireland, Enterprise Ireland continues to work closely with the international food companies already operating in Ireland.

“The objective is to help these companies grow their business from Ireland, creating value for them and enabling them to create sustainable new jobs in Ireland,” says Nick Marmion, who leads the Foreign Direct Investment – Food Projects team at Enterprise Ireland.

International investment

In 2014, Enterprise Ireland helped secure new investments in Ireland with a number of existing international food company partners. Some of these were mobile projects which could have gone to alternative country locations.

Green Isle Foods announced a €30m investment and 115 jobs in Longford and Galway. Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition in Wexford announced a €26m investment programme and an additional 50 new jobs, bringing total employment to 400.

And in Tullamore, William Grant (Tullamore Dew) is investing €38m and adding 106 new jobs in order to facilitate a return to whiskey production to its heartland of Tullamore, 60 years after the original distillery closed its doors.

In addition, C&D Foods in Edgewothstown, Co. Longford is investing €15m with 70 new jobs coming on stream.

Export growth

According to Marmion, the food sector is of strategic importance to the Irish economy and offers significant FDI potential.

“Ireland has strength and depth in the food and food-related sectors and is gearing up to deliver sustained export growth with the potential to capture and maximise on significant opportunities,” Marmion says.

According to Marmion: “As reflected in Ireland’s Food Harvest 2020 strategy, we aim to make Ireland the go-to European location for mobile food manufacturing operations. In the food sector, in a bid to attract new foreign investment, we are proactively targeting international food companies who are operating at a global level, and showing them the ‘added value’ that Irish companies can bring to the food chain.”

Growth opportunities

At the same time, there will be huge opportunities in the dairy sector following the lifting of milk quotas in 2015. The potential offered by additional dairy volume from a significant expansion of farm level dairy production of up to 50% by 2020 ensures Ireland has potential to attract additional FDI investment in dairy ingredients, infant formula and functional foods.

Ireland has earned a strong reputation as a manufacturing location where food safety, agricultural sustainability systems, and pharma-grade food manufacturing is a priority and standards are extremely high.

We aim to make Ireland the go-to European location for mobile food manufacturing operations.”

This strong reputation continues to reap rewards in international markets. The result is many international companies are happy to put ‘Made in Ireland’ on their products which are sold in global markets.

Collaboration

Ireland’s successful track record in building clusters of international companies in industry sectors such as medical devices, Pharmaceuticals and ICT is being replicated by Enterprise Ireland in the food sector. Ireland has a strong food ecosystem offering world-class natural ingredients, sustainable production and food science expertise. Easy access to research and innovation, commercialisation of research, as well as the tax, talent, technology and track record add to the positive messages about Ireland as an investment location.

Future harvest

Marmion concludes: “We are successfully using Enterprise Ireland-backed research investment in areas such as ageing, therapeutics, food for health and functional foods to underpin and attract the next generation food FDI companies to Ireland. This is an exciting time for companies involved in this growing sector and Ireland has many advantages to showcase in this area.

Nick Marmion leads the Foreign Direct Investment – Food Projects team at Enterprise Ireland. For more information, log on to W: enterprise-ireland.com