Beef and Lamb Turnover £672 Million in 2007

UK - DARD has published its annual review, “Size and Performance of the Northern Ireland Food and Drinks Processing Sector”. According to a Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) bulletin, the report contains the final figures for the performance of the sector in 2006 and some provisional estimates for 2007.
calendar icon 25 August 2008
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In 2006 the total gross turnover of the Northern Ireland food and drinks processing sector was £2,583 million, a 2.3 per cent increase over the 2005 level of £2,525 million. It is estimated that this increase mainly resulted from increases in the values of sales in milk/milk products (up £92.6m to £599.6m) and beef/sheepmeat (up £35.3m to £637m) sub-sectors. Together these two sub-sectors accounted for 48 per cent of total gross turnover in 2006; this was similar to their contribution in 2005. Provisional estimates for 2007 indicate growth of 5.4 per cent in the sector overall with beef/sheepmeat and milk/milk products increasing by 5.5 percent and 15.4 percent respectively.

Profitability

Total profits for the food and drink processing sector before taxation decreased from £72 million in 2005 to £69 million in 2006, equating to average profit margins on turnover of 2.8 per cent in 2005 and 2.7 per cent in 2006. Between 2005 and 2006, seven of the ten sub-sectors experienced increases in net profits before taxation with the beef/sheepmeat sub-sector recording the largest increase (+£2.9m).

Employment

According to the report, between 2006 and 2007 the level of FTE (full-time equivalents) employment in the food and drinks processing sector decreased by 0.2 per cent from 18,442 employees in 2006 to 18,403 employees in 2007 with five of the ten sub-sectors showing a decrease in employment. The largest decrease is estimated to have occurred in the poultrymeat sub-sector with a reduction of 110 FTEs. The other five sub-sectors recorded increases in employment levels between 2006 and 2007 with beef/sheepmeat increasing by 86 FTEs to 3,025 FTEs.

Exports

The value of sales for the sector to destinations outside Northern Ireland increased by 4 per cent from £1,621 million in 2005 to £1,686 million in 2006. External sales represented 65 per cent of total processing sector sales in 2006 with Great Britain accounting for 40 percent and 41 per cent of sales in 2005 and 2006 respectively. The Republic of Ireland continued to be the largest export market for the food and drink processing sector with sales worth £360 million in 2006 (£42m higher than 2005). In 2006, this market accounted for 14 per cent of total processing sector sales.

Further Reading

- You can view the full report by clicking here.

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