Scarica Foodmeat - Pool.mo.it

Primo pianoSpanish supermarkets look to NorthernIreland for new food and drinkdi Jiulia MillerTop buyers from fourof Spain’s leading retailchains recently metaround 40 NorthernIreland food and drinkcompanies in Belfast tosource new suppliers.The buyers spanish in belfast (NorthernIreland).bFoodmeatFoodmeatFoodmeatFoodmeatelfast (Northern Ireland). VisitingBelfast, in the latest ‘meet thebuyer’ event organised by Invest NorthernIreland, the region’s business developmentbody, were senior buyers from Mercadona,Eroski, Gadisa and Más y Más,which together have over 3,000 outletsacross Spain including hypermarkets, supermarkets,convenience shops and discountstores. Mercadona, Spain’s largestsupermarket retailer with over 1,400 retailoutlets and sales of over 17 billion euroswas the largest supermarket represented.Closely followed by Eroski, with over 1,100stores in Spain and France. Gadisa, locatedin the north west of Spain, has over 400stores and Más y Más, from the Alicanteregion, around 130 outlets. Together theyoffer comprehensive coverage of the Spanishmarketplace. As well as meeting NorthernIreland companies for one-to-one presentationsof local food and drink, the buyingteam visited several factories to seeprocessing operations at first hand andto discuss requirements. The two-day visitwas the first from Spanish retailers organisedby Invest NI, which runs an extensiveprogramme of activities including ‘meetthe buyer’ opportunities to promote salesof Northern Ireland food and drink in Europeand further afield. Prior to this visitInvest NI also organized an event with ElCorte Inglés in Madrid where the productsof over 26 NI companies where presentedto senior buyers. El Corte Inglés with over300 stores and sales of over 16 billion eurosis one of Spain’s most important retailers,being very similar to Marks & Spencerin structure. Carrefour Spain, part of Europe’slargest supermarket chain has alsorequested a meeting with Invest NI to ascertainthe potential of NI food and drink’scompanies. Food and drink processing, a£4 billion industry, is Northern Ireland’s biggestmanufacturer and most important exporter.Around £1 billion worth of food andFoodmeat 89 maggio 2013drink is exported from Northern Ireland tomarkets outside Great Britain. The buyershad an opportunity to see the broadestrange of Northern Ireland food anddrink including meat, dairy products, snackfoods and beverages such as craft alesand beers. They also had an opportunity tooutline their business requirements particularlyin terms of new products likely to appealto shoppers across Spain. Karl Devlin,Business Development Director, Europe &Russia, Invest NI’s International Businesssays: “Hosting such an influential retaildelegation in Northern Ireland enabled ourcompanies, both large and small, to showthe premium quality and outstanding valuefor money of the food and drink readilyavailable here. «Spain is Europe’s 5th largesteconomy with a population of almost50 million, importing over 21 billion Eurosof food and drink produce each year and istherefore an immensely important Europeanmarketplace, one which we have targetedfor growth across all our processing sectors.There’s also considerable interest inBritish and Irish products from around onemillion expats now resident in the Costasand the 16 million who regularly visit Spainon holidays. A number of Northern Irelandcompanies, including those specialising inmeat, speciality cheese, breakfast cereals,snacks and health foods, are already wellestablishedin Spain, and we have beenencouraging and assisting many others tolook closely at opportunities. We now havean agreement with a food marketing consultancythere, which has been tasked withhelping companies to grow sales of existingproducts and also to explore opportunitieswith Spanish retailers to develop newfood and drink ideas for consumers there.The visit, in addition, enabled our companiesto learn about Spanish business proceduresand specific requirements in areassuch as logistics, packaging and labelling».n