The impact of US tariffs on the global dairy trade are unclear, however, Irish butter trade may see “key” changes, according to GIRA CEO, Christophe Lafougere.
Last year, Ireland shipped around 60,000t of butter to the US, while this year farm organisations have raised concerns about how agriculture will be impacted by plans introduced by US President Donald Trump to place tariffs on EU agri-food exports.
Lafougere said that a 25% tariff may create butter prices that are “unreachable” for the consumer, and may result in volume reductions for Ireland.
“It’s going to be difficult to sell it [butter] to the consumer, so the only possibility would be to have a price reduction from the processor,” Lafougere said.
Lafougere spoke about dairy supply and demand dynamics at the Bord Bia Dairy Markets Seminar 2025 today (Thursday, March 27) at the Kilashee Hotel, Co. Kildare.
“Ireland needs to supply more and more added value to the world, and what we have seen is a bit higher of a milk price in Ireland, so you need to justify that high milk price with a lot of value,” he said.
In his presentation, Lafougere said that the Irish dairy industry is “heavily exposed” to the US as a key market outside Europe.
Minister for State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) with responsibility for new market development Noel Grealish also spoke at the seminar.
Minister Grealish said that the US remains a “particularly important” trading partner, with Irish dairy exports valued at nearly €830 billion last year. He said that the Irish government would continue to “safeguard” this relationship.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon will lead a trade mission to the US in the coming weeks. The focus of the trade mission will be to highlight the investment made by Irish food companies based in the US.
Minister Grealish said that he is “confident” that the outlook for the Irish dairy industry “remains positive”, and said that livestock farmers in the dairy sector are “already very sustainable”.
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