Geographically located in the northern hemisphere between England and the Atlantic Ocean, Ireland is blessed with rich soil composition full of nutrients and extremely fertile. This is further complemented by all-year rain making the country ideal for agriculture and farming, in fact, 4.4 million hectares of the land area of 6.9 million is used for agriculture.
Traversing the landscape, one will notice the grass and foliage across the meadows are lush and green as they are drenched in sunshine and grow healthily from the mineral-rich land they thrive on. It’s this natural environment that makes the animals like the dairy cow that feed on these plants produce some of the world’s best milk quality and subsequently the premium dairy products derived from the milk.
Ireland’s dairy products are well known in Europe with brands like Kerry Gold already dominating in Germany and in the US., and its powdered milk is used as a base by some of the biggest food companies in the world. Under the support of Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, markets in the Middle East, China, and Southeast Asia are opening to dairy products like butter and cheese from Ireland and according to Bord Bia CEO Jim O’Toole, the response has been encouraging.
“More needs to be done to bring awareness to Irish butter, yogurt, and milk products to this part of the world” he added. Malaysians are familiar with Irish products as there is the Guinness factory, but Ireland is more than a pint of stout. To kick of the know Irish dairy in Southeast Asia, the government supported by the European Union has embarked on a three-year campaign promoting sustainable dairy in these parts of the woods.
The campaign to get Irish Dairy products across the Asia markets is massive, EU has invested Euro 3.2 million (RM 15 million) across Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines over a three-year period and is 80% co-funded by the EU. The objective of the campaign is to build awareness of, and propensity to purchase, dairy amongst the primary (B2G and B2B) and secondary (B2C) target audiences in each market.
Bord Bia added the campaign will undertake a suite of promotional and awareness-building activities, such as trade and technical seminars with B2B customers and media, exhibiting at key trade fairs such as FI Asia and FoodEx Japan, online and print advertising and welcoming customers and media to Ireland to experience its world-class production system first-hand and connect with Irish dairy exporters.
Having high standards in dairy farming with sustainability and animal welfare entrenched throughout the supply chain, the European Union selected Ireland to showcase its high-quality produced dairy ingredients in priority markets in SE Asia. Bord Bia said these EU co-funded campaigns are a vital means of putting Ireland on the global map as a food producer. The campaign also aids in building new relationships between Irish exporters and local importers and distributors in these high-priority markets, such as here in Malaysia.
The EU believes that European countries like Ireland, which have a dairy surplus and a low carbon footprint per kg produced have an important role to play in providing nutrition to a global market where many countries with growing populations and increased demand for high-quality food are not able to satisfy this demand with local produce.
Accordingly, the agency noted many of these countries have products that Europe has import demand for so there is an opportunity for strong bi-lateral trade.
Bord Bia Singapore office is already actively engaging with distributors and organising trade shows in Malaysia and other markets in the region, showcasing some of the best quality dairy products from the likes of LakeLands, Kerry, and Glenisk.
The next time you come across, Irish butter or yogurt, you can be assured the source comes from a sustainable farm, grass-fed cows, and protein-rich milk.
