Ireland and Portugal: Two Markets Worth Understanding Before You Enter for Food & Drink Exporters

Follow up to the Ireland Portugal Business Network Food Innovation Conference, 18 June 2026

With Irish businesses increasingly looking west to Portugal and Portuguese companies identifying Ireland as a gateway market, the Ireland-Portugal trade corridor is generating real commercial interest in the food and drink sector. But both directions carry assumptions that can trip companies up. Here is what you need to understand before you move.

Why Portugal works for Irish food and drink companies

Three things make Portugal genuinely attractive right now.

The first is direct sea freight. Since Brexit, the Rosslare-to-Bilbao ferry route has become the primary corridor for Irish exporters to mainland Europe, bypassing the UK entirely. From Bilbao, temperature-controlled road haulage runs the full length of the Iberian Peninsula. Companies like Tranziberia, based in Carlow, have been operating dedicated Ireland-Spain-Portugal routes since 2003, running 52 weeks a year. The logistics infrastructure is proven and it is there to be used.

The second is that Portugal and Spain can be approached as a shared distribution corridor. If you are already selling into Spain, or have an established Spanish distributor, Portugal is a natural extension. The important caveat is that a Spanish distributor should not be expected to cover Portugal unless they have a dedicated Portuguese entity. The markets differ considerably in terms of consumer behaviour, retail structure and buying relationships, and conflating the two is a common and costly mistake.

The third is that the route to market is accessible for SMEs. The main retail entry points, Continente, Pingo Doce and Mercadona, all operate supplier portals. For foodservice, Bidfood Portugal runs three distribution platforms covering Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve. JMD, Portugal's largest food distributor, covers all major retailers across beverages, dairy and snacks. There is real infrastructure available to brands that are not yet at scale.

Where companies go wrong is in assuming Portugal is simply a smaller, easier version of Spain. It is not. The population is concentrated along the coast and in Lisbon and Porto. Retail buying relationships take time to build. And the consumer profile differs considerably from Spain, particularly in the premium, health and international categories, where the Lisbon and Algarve markets are more sophisticated than many exporters expect.

Why Ireland works for Portuguese food and drink companies

The answer that tends to surprise Portuguese companies is the Brazilian connection. There are now over 58,000 Brazilians living in Ireland, the fastest-growing non-EU national community in the country, concentrated in Dublin and Cork. Portugal and Brazil share language, food culture and deeply embedded commercial ties. For Portuguese producers of pasteis, wines, olive oils and specialist ingredients, that community represents an already-existing, culturally connected consumer base that is currently under-served.

Beyond the diaspora opportunity, Ireland holds a strategic advantage that is often overlooked. It is the only English-speaking country remaining in the EU following Brexit. For a Portuguese company that wants to begin exporting in English, building English-language packaging, retail relationships, buyer references and pricing benchmarks, Ireland is the most logical first step. The market is small enough to be manageable for an SME, premium enough to reward quality products, and it provides a live EU proof point that can be taken directly to UK buyers.

For companies on both sides of this corridor, the opportunity is real. The key is arriving with an accurate picture of the market you are entering, rather than the one you assumed it would be.

Yvonne Scully is a Business Consultant and Export Specialist working with food and drink SMEs. She co-facilitates LEO Export Sales and Technical Development Programmes and advises companies on UK, Northern Ireland and international market entry.”