Bord Bia to lead €3.2m EU dairy promotion campaign in Asia 

Ireland will be promoting the campaign on behalf of the EU to markets with a combined dairy import value of €16.2bn per annum.

Ireland’s dairy exports are the largest single element of total food and drink exports with over 1.7m tonnes of product shipped globally to over 130 markets each year.

Bord Bia CEO Jim O’Toole said EU co-funded campaigns are a vital means of putting Ireland on the global stage as a food producer. 

“Our focus will be the building new relationships between Irish exporters and local manufacturers of these higher value consumer products as well as the importers and distributors in China, Singapore and Vietnam that serve them,” he said.

“Demand for dairy and dairy-based products is increasing in China and Southeast Asia. These markets are heavily dependent on imports of specialised dairy ingredients that will be used for domestic manufacturing. This represents an opportunity for Irish dairy exporters from the EU to grow their operations in these markets through collaboration on research and development expertise and co-creation of added value products.”

Irish dairy exports to China, Singapore, and Vietnam were worth over €458m in 2023.

The European Commission has approved a total of €2.56m, equivalent to 80% co-funding support for the three-year, €3.2m information and promotion campaign.

The 20% balance is provided by the Irish dairy industry.

Bord Bia’s Future of Dairy in Southeast Asia report shows that the population of Southeast Asia is predicted to grow by a further 100m by 2050. The report notes that Southeast Asia will continue to rely on dairy imports in coming years and that domestic production levels will remain low.

Commencing in June 2025, a series of campaign launch events will take place in China, Singapore, and Vietnam. 

This will be followed by a delegation of dairy specialist buyers travelling to Ireland over the summer months. The latter part of the year will focus on technical seminars and an EU dairy stand at the Food Ingredients Asia trade show in Bangkok in September.

Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will co-manage the programme for the duration of the campaign.