Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has met with his UK Ministerial counterparts at an emergency meeting to discuss the conflict in the Ukraine and its immediate and medium term impacts on food supply chains.
During the meeting, Ministers Poots, Prentis, Gougeon and Griffiths spoke about the impacts of the conflict in the Ukraine on their own local agri-food industries.
Following the meeting, Minister Poots said:
“Given the crucial roles that both Russia and Ukraine play in global agri-food markets, I have grave concerns the longer the conflict continues, the more likely we are to see a real and damaging impact on our local industries.
“There is no doubt raising input costs such as energy, grain and fertiliser will lead to increase in food prices and we need to prepare for that.”
Minister Poots is now urgently organising several meetings with key NI Food Supply stakeholders in the coming days to discuss these issues, list industry concerns and implement suitable mitigations to keep our food supply safe for Northern Ireland.
Minister Poots continued:
“The NI agri-food sector has already undergone a period of severe disruption as a result of the Covid pandemic and the unworkable complexities of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“Alongside reductions in labour supply, rising input costs, supply chain disruption and concerns about long running inflation they are all combining to create a perfect storm.
“I will now meet with a range of stakeholders to find out the challenges they are facing and what we in Government may be able to do to help.”