Food Crops

The most important market  for fresh produce in Ireland is the retail market in particular the major retail multiples.
The following graphs illustrate the total fresh produce sector split annually by value and volume in €/Kgs Values.

Total Fresh Produce value sector split annually - €’s	Total Fresh Produce volume sector split annually - KG’s
(Source: KANTAR WorldPanel)	(Source: KANTAR WorldPanel)

The retail market for fresh produce was valued at €1.208 billion in 2012 which was a 0.8% growth compared with 2011. This market is made up of sales of fruit (45.1%), vegetables (42.9%) and potatoes (12.0%). A modest increase in value sales was recorded in 2012 over 2011 for the fruit and vegetables categories, with the fruit category showing the greatest value increase of 3%. 

Value of Retail Sales of Fresh Produce 10-12

Retail Market Share for Fresh Produce categories

The Horticulture Products Graphs page display the  Top 20 selling fresh produce lines of fruit and vegetables.

The Gardening Market in Ireland:

Sales of plants/flowers to consumers was valued at €516 millon for 2011/2012. 

For further information on this market click on the following link to see Garden Market Purchasing: April 2011 - April 2012 report

Export of Horticultural Products:

The Irish Horticultural Industry is primarily targeted towards supplying the domestic market. However there are two key areas where Horticultural products are exported in significant quantities including:

Mushroom exports to the UK were valued at over €115 million at retail level annually and comprised 50% of the  UK market, which was  supplied both from Ireland and by Irish owned mushroom production companies based in the UK. Ireland’s mushroom exports  amounted, to 47,000 tonnes,with a value of €115 million,into the UK market. The Following Link  shows the value/volume of the UK Mushroom retail market .  

The Christmas Tree home market figures for 2012 were €400,000 and the export  market figure for  2012 was  €300,000.
Figures from THE ICTGA.