Inflationary pressures for Irish food and drink businesses have worsened in recent months, according to Food Drink Ireland (FDI), the Ibec group representing the food and drink sector.

A survey carried out by FDI also found that the cost of inflation is expected to continue.

FDI surveyed member companies in July 2021 to assess the extent and impact of input-cost increases.

The survey found that the majority of food and drink companies experienced substantial increases across a range of inputs over the last 12 months.

Earlier in November the FDI surveyed members again and the results reveal that the problem is worsening.

Main findings of the survey include:

Lower but still significant increases were experienced for other inputs including:

Main factors attributed to the input costs:

FDI director, Paul Kelly said:

“The rate of cost inflation in the sector continues to rise across all the main inputs and this is now increasingly accompanied by supply shortages of these inputs.

Looking ahead to the next six to 12 months, respondents most commonly cited packaging as the input where further cost inflation was expected but most other input costs were expected to increase too.

While general inflation is now over 5%, consumer price inflation for food and beverages is still less than 1% and costs will inevitably have to be passed on.”