China’s historic ban on imports of beef from the UK – which has been in force for more than 20 years – has finally been lifted, in a landmark decision estimated to be worth millions of pounds to British food exporters.
More than two decades ago, the Chinese Government imposed the ban amid the controversy surrounding the ‘mad cow disease’ outbreak, and it has been in full force ever since.
However, on Wednesday 27 June 2018, China announced that the ban would finally be lifted, following several years of negotiations between Chinese and UK officials.
China, which is currently the UK’s eighth largest export market for agricultural food, offers tremendous opportunities to British exporters – and it is thought that the scrapping of the beef ban will be worth some £250 million to British food producers in the next five years alone.
Commenting on the good news, UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove, said: “Today’s milestone will help to unlock UK agriculture’s full potential and is a major step to forging new trading relationships around the globe.
“This is fantastic news for our world-class food and farming industry and shows we can be a truly outward looking Britain outside the European Union.
“It is the result of painstaking and collaborative work by industry and the Defra team over many years.”
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