Drinks industry purchases over €2.8bn a year

Out in the field (from left): Report author and DCU Business School economist Tony Foley with DIGI Chairman Peter O’Brien, Diageo’s European Corporate Relations Director and barley farmer Roger Perry on his farm in Athy, County Kildare.
Out in the field (from left): Report author and DCU Business School economist Tony Foley with DIGI Chairman Peter O’Brien, Diageo’s European Corporate Relations Director and barley farmer Roger Perry on his farm in Athy, County Kildare.

A new report from the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland finds that the Irish drinks industry purchases over €2.8 billion a year.

Print

PrintPrint
Off-trade

18 February 2013

Share this post:
 

advertisement



 

Industry purchases include: ingredients used in processing such as apples, barley and milk; non-industrial services such as IT and marketing; industrial services; labour costs and wages. Measuring the value of inputs such as this is a method of evaluating an industry’s contribution to the domestic economy.
 
Purchases of Inputs by the Drinks Industry by Anthony Foley of Dublin City University Business School shows that apart from this very substantial purchase of inputs, the industry also provides 64,000 jobs, over €1 billion in exports, €1.8 billion VAT and excise tax revenue and almost €7 billion in personal expenditure (including VAT).
 
Wages, salaries and personnel costs are one of the highest inputs and total €1 billion per annum: retail, wholesale and on-/off-trade sectors pay €690 million in personnel costs each year while the manufacturing sector pays a further €311 million.
 
The Irish drinks sector is now responsible for a far greater proportion of domestic purchasing than the chemical and technology sectors.

Purchasing of Irish materials and services for use in drink manufacturing in Ireland is worth €800 million to the domestic economy. Of the total purchases by manufacturers – €1.558 billion which excludes goods bought for resale – a high proportion of these materials and services are domestically sourced at 42% and 62% respectively.
The latter figure includes the 50,000 tonnes of apples, 200,000 tonnes of barley and 300 million litres of milk purchased from Irish farmers by the Irish drinks industry each year.
 
While personnel costs are the highest input purchased by the retail, wholesale and on/off sectors, at €690 million per annum, this is closely followed by the amount spent on materials and services other than food and drink at €583 million. The amount spent on food purchasing is valued at €243 million so that the total value of retail sales is €7 billion.
 
The drinks industry spent €147 million on capital assets and investment purchases in 2010 and estimates a further €450 million will be invested over the next few years.
 
The report’s author Anthony Foley, commented, “The drinks industry, both manufacturing and retail, plays a very substantial role in the procurement of inputs as is apparent from this report. Previous DIGI reports have identified the direct economic benefits which derive from the drinks industry in terms of employment, output, exports and tax revenue and the positive impact which the sector has on tourism. An industry also contributes to the economy through its procurement from other suppliers.
 
“As identified in this report, mainly through the use of official CSO data and identified assumptions where data is insufficient, the drinks industry is a major purchaser of goods and services. This is true of both the manufacturing and retail sectors of the industry. The analysis shows that the manufacturing sector in the drinks industry pays €217 million in wages and salaries, buys €901 million annually in materials, buys €33 million in industrial services and €587 million in other services and will invest over €450 million over the next few years.
 
“Over 200,000 tonnes of barley is used annually in the production of whiskey and the different beers. About 45,000 cows are needed to produce the more than 300 million litres of milk which is used for the different Irish cream liqueurs produced on the island of Ireland. Almost 50,000 tonnes of apples are used in the production of cider. The retail/wholesale drinks sector sectors pay wages and salaries of €626 million and spends €583 million on services and materials other than food and drink. The on-licence sector buys about €243 million in food inputs annually and invested €67 million in 2010.”

DIGI’s Chairman and Diageo’s European Corporate Relations Director Peter O’Brien commented, “It is apparent that where the industry can, it is supporting domestic business”.

 

advertisement



 
Share this post:



Back to Top ↑

Shelflife Magazine