John Kelly In Dublin Updated:13:49, Thursday November 22, 2007
It is already the biggest grocery chain in Ireland, and now a new report has underlined just how important Tesco is to the Irish economy. Tesco is Ireland's biggest grocers Tesco bought £470m of Irish produce last year for export to the company's outlets in 13 countries around the world. That makes the group a bigger buyer of Irish food than France, Germany or the US. Indeed, only the United Kingdom itself bought more Irish food than Tesco did last year.
Tesco serves more than a million customers a week at its 98 stores across Ireland, trade worth £1.8bn annually to the Irish economy. Not bad for a company which only began trading in the Republic of Ireland 10 years ago when it purchased 76 stores previously owned by Irish supermarket group Quinnsworth. Since then Tesco has gone on to dominate the Irish grocery sector, garnering a 25% market share in the Republic. Kilkenny is the only county in the Republic which does not have a Tesco store, and the company employs 13,000 people directly, with another 14,000 jobs dependent on it.
The only cloud on the horizon for Tesco, whose chief executive Terry Leahy has Irish parents, is the perennial issue of competition. Ireland's National Consumer Agency (NCA)wants more competition, which could be bad news for Tesco and Dunnes, Ireland's second-biggest grocery chain. An NCA prices' survey earlier this year indicated a lack of competition in the food retail sector. If a bigger survey to be revealed early next year detects similar patterns then Tesco and Dunnes could be hauled before the Competition Authority.
It is already the biggest grocery chain in Ireland, and now a new report has underlined just how important Tesco is to the Irish economy. Tesco is Ireland's biggest grocers Tesco bought £470m of Irish produce last year for export to the company's outlets in 13 countries around the world. That makes the group a bigger buyer of Irish food than France, Germany or the US. Indeed, only the United Kingdom itself bought more Irish food than Tesco did last year.
Tesco serves more than a million customers a week at its 98 stores across Ireland, trade worth £1.8bn annually to the Irish economy. Not bad for a company which only began trading in the Republic of Ireland 10 years ago when it purchased 76 stores previously owned by Irish supermarket group Quinnsworth. Since then Tesco has gone on to dominate the Irish grocery sector, garnering a 25% market share in the Republic. Kilkenny is the only county in the Republic which does not have a Tesco store, and the company employs 13,000 people directly, with another 14,000 jobs dependent on it.
The only cloud on the horizon for Tesco, whose chief executive Terry Leahy has Irish parents, is the perennial issue of competition. Ireland's National Consumer Agency (NCA)wants more competition, which could be bad news for Tesco and Dunnes, Ireland's second-biggest grocery chain. An NCA prices' survey earlier this year indicated a lack of competition in the food retail sector. If a bigger survey to be revealed early next year detects similar patterns then Tesco and Dunnes could be hauled before the Competition Authority.
