Kerrygold has been a huge food export success story of recent decades, with the famous butter selling to about 110 countries around the world. The brainchild of Sir Anthony O’Reilly in 1962, Kerrygold is now a billion euro brand with market leading positions in the United States and Germany, among others.
So US president Donald Trump’s plan to impose a 25 per cent tariff on butter imports from Europe from October 15th represents a major blow to Kerrygold and will add up to $1 extra to the price of a packet of butter in the US, according to the company. It’s a price rise that will have to be passed on to customers.
In an interview with Marian Finucane on RTÉ Radio 1 last Saturday, John Jordon, chief executive of Ornua, the company that owns and produces Kerrygold, described the brand as “collateral damage” in the long-running political row between Trump that stems from US aircraft manufacturer Boeing having the hump over European subsidies to its rival Airbus.
Kerrygold sells an impressive three million packets of butter in the US each week, with Jordan noting that Americans have a “huge affinity” for the product. It is currently about a dollar more expensive than its nearest rival, he said.
According to Jordan, Kerrygold sells in the US for $3.50 per 227g packet – the equivalent of about €3.18.
In Dublin, you can expect to pay €3.75 for a 454g packet of Kerrygold in Super Valu or Tesco, two of the biggest supermarket groups in the country. Of course it doesn’t have to be shipped across the Atlantic in vast refrigerated containers, instead only travelling up the road from Mitchelstown, Co Cork.
Jordan wasn’t kidding when he told Finucane that Ornua looks to sell Kerrygold at a premium price.
