Growing exports of British food and drink

Tim Render Head of the Great British Food Unit Defra

We are a successful exporter … but can do more

• Exports of £18.2bn in 2015 to over 200 countries

• 60% of exports are to the EU (£10.9bn) and 40% to rest of world (£7.3bn)

• Exports split between alcoholic drinks (£6bn, of which scotch whisky is £4bn); manufactured goods (£4.8bn) and primary goods (e.g. meat, dairy - £7.3bn)

• There is plenty of scope for growth

• exports form only 19% of turnover of the UK food and drink industry – for cars and aerospace it’s over 70%

• only around 1 in 5 companies export – it’s 1 in 4 in France and Germany

• rapidly expanding markets for high value added products with strong brand identity

• Companies that export have higher productivity than those that don’t

Exports in 2014

There’s clear commitment to exporting more and a plan for doing so

• Many in industry are committed to growing their exports – a chance to achieve growth and help manage some of the currency pressures

• Lots of activity from Trade Associations to support their members export more

• Several of the major banks actively supporting their customers to export

• Joint industry and Government UK Food and Drink – International Action Plan 2016 to 2020 published last month

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Growing AMBITION

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Food is GREAT campaign – getting consumers overseas to recognise the excellence of British produce Maintaining the quality, traceability, authenticity and high animal welfare of our products

Encouraging more companies to export

Growing CAPABILITY

Supporting companies to be better able to export

• Skills

• Bespoke advice from International Trade Advisers; industry mentoring

• Innovation

• Research to tackle big challenges e.g. reformulation

• Developing new products for specific markets

• Information

• Country insight from trade advisers overseas

• Open to Export website and advice from Trade Associations

• Investment

• To respond to new opportunities and increase productivity

• Export finance

• From banks and UK Export Finance

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Growing OPPORTUNITY

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There is wide demand for UK food and drink - we’re working to increase

that and make it easy to find the opportunities

Exporting is GREAT – 172 food and drink opportunities on line now

Maintaining what we’ve got – managing EU exit and future trade agreements

Dedicated support and promotion campaigns in key markets

Developing E exporting – working with key platforms to get good access for UK suppliers

Securing market access – negotiating with third countries for access for meat, fish

and dairy products

The wider context – EU exit and industrial strategy

• The EU is a major export market and also source of many ingredients for the food industry

• Securing the best deal for the UK in EU exit is a top priority

• Extensive engagement with industry to identify the key issues

• Trade and tariffs

• Regulatory framework

• Animal and plant health

• Labour market

• A new approach to industrial strategy to deliver “an economy that works for all”

• An opportunity to focus on growing the productivity, innovation and skills of the food and drink industry

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