Supply Chain

Estimates hint that the food and drinks industry in Northern Ireland have increased to £4,772 million in 2014.

The 5.8% rise demonstrates an incremental year-on-year increase from 2013, with sales in the same sector rising by 6.8% from 2012. The results were compiled in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s annual report, Size and Performance of the Northern Ireland Food and Drinks Processing Sector, Subsector Statistics.

The report also states that the within the sales sector, beef, sheepmeat and milk products subsectors proved to be the largest in terms of gross turnover, for both 2012 and 2013, accounting for half of the sector’s total gross turnover for those years. The sector is reported to have contributed an estimated 3.8% to Northern Irelands’ total gross value added in 2013 alone.

It was also found that the sector’s share of external sales and employment of the manufacturing industry were also up. The overall proportion of total manufacturing sales and export sales, however, remained unmoved. The UK market remains Northern Ireland’s largest outlet, representing 43% of its total sales. The Republic of Ireland marked the most prevalent destination for its export sales at around 16% of total sales.

Young’s Seafood Limited has appointed Reed Boardall to be its partner in the collection, storage and delivery of its foodservice business.

This piece of frozen work has come off the back of a very successful chilled operation which has been running for several years, and the assistance provided to another Young’s site -Pinneys of Scotland - which had a short notice requirement for third party storage during the summer for which Reed Boardall provided a very effective service.

Chris Law, logistics manager for Young’s Seafood Limited (pictured right) says: “This partnership has been slowly developing and Reed Boardall has stepped up every time we have asked them to. We are impressed by their ability to respond and are confident that they will take good care of our foodservice customers and deliver the expected performance this area demands.”

Howard Gill, managing director for Reed Boardall’s transport division, adds: ”We are absolutely delighted to have secured this piece of business which further strengthens our beliefs in our single site model enabling us to deliver the service and the agility required in Young’s Seafood Limited’s supply chain.”

Reed Boardall is one of the largest temperature controlled food distribution businesses in the UK, storing and delivering frozen food from manufacturers across Britain, Europe and further afield to all the UK’s best-known supermarkets. Operating 24/7, its 180-strong fleet of vehicles delivers an average of 12,000 pallets a day and it stores around £100 million worth of products on behalf of its customers. It is based at a single site in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, England which is the largest of its kind in Europe.