According to a study from the store, Lidl spent €1 billion last year investing in Irish agri-food companies.

According to its most recent Supplier Impact Report, €682m of its investment was used to purchase goods for its Irish retail outlets.

The rest, or €318 million worth of Irish food and drink, was exported to its outlets abroad.

“Since 2018, we have been working hard to increase our customer offering, expanding our product range by more than 40% and tripling our buying team to focus on sourcing as many Irish products as possible,” said JP Scally, CEO of Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland. “We help customers to do their full shop with Lidl while also buying top-quality Irish products.”

In the coming year, “we look forward to cultivating new and beneficial supplier partnerships and supporting even more local businesses to success,” the company said.

According to Lidl, it has around 400 Irish suppliers as of the previous year.

Lidl and Cork-based Keohane Seafoods signed a €20 million supply agreement at the beginning of 2022, and as a result, Lidl outlets in the UK, Germany, and the US are now stocking Keohane Seafoods’ products.

With Tipperary ham and bacon maker Honeyvale Foods, the supermarket reached a €17 million agreement last month. Honeyvale Foods is currently exporting to Lidl outlets in Portugal, Poland, and Denmark.

Additionally, Lidl has contributed €7 million to the Bord Bia-sponsored Kickstart Supplier Development Program, which assists new food and beverage businesses in expanding and improving their product line.

According to Jim O’Toole, CEO of Bord Bia, “Lidl has established a strong commitment to procuring Irish produce over the past 20 years, allowing a wide range of Irish food, drink, and horticulture producers access to a significant consumer base in Ireland as well as export potential.”