The Government has announced a new ‘bounce back’ export strategy to support the agriculture, food and drink sectors rebuild and recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes as the Government begins trade negotiations with global markets outside the European Union, including Japan, the US, Australia, and New Zealand.
According to the report, a new business strategy will support “producers, manufacturers and agri-tech companies across the food supply chain”.
These measures include an “overseas virtual buyer trial”, a “Smart Distance Selling Process”, and a package of “Ready to Trade” Exporting Masterclass webinars, as well as a new “SME E-commerce Accelerator Pilot” to increase the level of international e-commerce backing for SMEs in the food and drink industry.
The announcement comes as recent figures revealed a dent in export figures across the agriculture, food, and drink sector, which contributed a combined £121 billion to the UK economy in 2018, creating four million jobs and exporting around £23.7 billion of products.
Commenting on the new strategy, Minister for Export Graham Stuart said: “More trade is absolutely critical to helping the UK’s agriculture, food and drink industry recover from the impact of coronavirus.
“The package of measures we have announced today will support ‘bounce back’ in exports, and help our world-class producers and manufacturers increase trade with the rest of the world. It will also get the industry ready to capitalise on the opportunities that are being opened up by the series of free trade agreements that my department is negotiating around the world.”
Welcoming the announcement, Ian Wright, Chief Executive of the Food and Drink Federation, added: “Support on this scale from UK Government is extremely welcome at this uncertain time. The package of measures is testament to the close and long-running work between FDF, DIT and Defra to boost our exports performance. Our success in restarting and expanding exports will be absolutely vital in aiding the UK’s post-COVID economic recovery.”
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