Declan Billington, Chairperson of the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association (NIFDA), discusses the potential impact of Brexit on food safety issues in Northern Ireland (NI) and the importance of reputation and quality control for NI’s export trade going forward.
"Everyone sees Brexit as this big wall that we are going to run headlong into. We need to stop thinking like this and instead figure out how to get around the wall.”
This ‘can do’ approach is what Declan Billington is well known for. Chief Executive of major agri-food business John Thompson & Sons and chairperson of NIFDA, Declan has also held positions on a host of business lobby groups and is currently involved in a move to set up a marketing promotional body for food from Northern Ireland.
One of the biggest issues coming down the line, Declan believes, is the issue of international competitiveness and the safeguarding of standards for exports. “Everyone is talking about trade within the EU. What is just as concerning is that once the UK goes out and is competing with the rest of the world, will the same standards be applied across the board? Northern Ireland needs to start building a reputation or ‘brand’ for its food, similar to what Bord Bia has done with Origin Green. This should be built on two pillars: environmental sustainability, including investing in the natural heritage of the UK landscape; and robust quality assurance in our supply chain. This means that when a supermarket chooses to do business with Northern Ireland it knows its reputation is protected best by our Northern Ireland supply chain. The long and short of it is that the UK market is a large market for us and it will come under rising price pressure once it starts trading internationally after Brexit. We need a point of difference and to start building a more robust supply chain in terms of traceability and quality assurance. The Republic of Ireland has been brilliant at opening export markets in the food industry. However the UK sees itself as an import market and therefore has neglected building export markets outside Europe. But Northern Ireland, which exports 24% of its food to Europe and 4% to the rest of the world, sees a huge export exposure here. We need to not only increase market share in the UK but also around the world. The biggest issues for markets like China and South Africa when importing food are about food integrity and the environment. We are currently working with the government here to create a marketing body, to build and promote the Northern Ireland food industry. We want international markets to feel that Northern Ireland is the safest place to source food from. Building trade to these export markets is a way of diversifying our exposure to the EU, which might become closed because of tariffs.”
Declan believes that setting a high standard is at the heart of success in a post-Brexit marketplace. “There is a big fear – people talk about maintaining an equal balance of standards between the UK and EU but their view is too narrow. Yes, we need to work to European standards if want to trade with the EU but if we want to trade to China, America or other international countries we have to set as our base, for each product, the highest standards that exist across all customers. That is the only way. Nor do we want to see a divergence with the EU in terms of the regulatory environment, but the fear is that the UK will lower its domestic standard – say, for example, with chlorinated chicken or hormone fed beef… both of which are accepted by the World Trade Organisation, but which the EU has deemed unacceptable.” Concluding, Declan is keen to highlight the cost of policy, an issue he believes will become increasingly important in the coming years. “A large number of countries we could be competing with don’t believe in a living wage, holiday pay or pensions, much of which was required by the EU. It is not only the environmental standards but also the social standards that could destroy our industry if the UK allows an uneven playing field here. If countries trading into the UK don’t believe in the same social and environmental policies we do, there should be a tariff or a levy to level the policy cost such that we compete on our relative production efficiencies but not lose on the back of policy cost differentials.”
About Declan
Hobbies/Interests: I’d love to have them but I just don’t have time! I like to holiday in Donegal and that is where I recharge my batteries, cycling and hill walking.
Favourite Food: l like to cook meat, particularly a barbecue. I did a BBQ cookery course in Dublin before and I made risotto on a barbecue – it was the best risotto I have ever tasted!
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