According to the latest figures, UK food and drinks exports have increased by 8.3 per cent to £6.2 billion.
The figures were published by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in their Q3 2019 report, with whisky, gin, wine, pork and salmon all seeing a 10 per cent increase against the same period in 2018.
Exports to non-European Union (EU) countries were a significant factor in the increase, with growth of 13.1 per cent in the sector, which was more than double the growth of exports to EU countries.
Food and drink exports represented 6.4 per cent of total UK exports in the period, while the report emphasises a decrease in the export of branded goods to the EU, partially because of uncertainty over future trade agreements.
The FDF stated that high production standards in the UK have helped to develop export markets outside of the EU, with China a particular example of this.
Food and drinks exports to China have risen by £64.6 million, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) forecasting that the agreement to trade UK beef could be worth £230 million over the next five years.
Gavin Darby, President of the Food and Drink Federation, said: “This is the fourth consecutive year of food and drink export growth in Q3. While the overall value of UK exports across all industries has declined year-to-date, food and drink has shown great resilience to buck that trend, delivering growth of 6.3 per cent on 2018 already. Although sales of branded goods to the EU have declined, encouragingly our sales to non-EU countries have increased by over nine per cent so far in 2019.
“At the same time, there remains significant untapped growth potential for UK food and drink exports. If we are to build on recent successes, the Government must ensure we have a dedicated future trade policy for food and drink which recognises our industry’s unique ability to deliver jobs and growth in every UK community.”
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