UK food and non-alcoholic beverage exports industry hits £6.1billion mark with continued growth in 2013.
A 2.5% increase in UK food and non-alcoholic drink exports has boosted the sector’s export figure to £6.1billion, according to a Food and Drink Federation report revealed today.
The growth reflects positively on the industry that has been showing strong signs of increase since a slow first quarter when exports were down by 2.5%. In the second quarter f 2013, this figure was also offset by a strong second quarter growth of 9%.
Learn how to grow your exports at Export Connect 2013 – sponsored by UKTI The Manufacturer is looking to assist manufacturing businesses to breakout of their comfort zone and increase their exports to various global markets. On October 16, manufacturers will gather in London for the Export Connect conference to learn from regional experts about how to access markets including Asia, Eastern Europe (incl Russia), India, the Middle East, South America and North America. Speakers at the event include: Sir Roger Bone, President of Boeing UK and Lord Green, Minister of State for Trade and Investment as well as a host of industry and regional export experts who will be on hand to answer any questions. For more information visit www.themanufacturer.com/eventsite/export2013/
or call +44 (0)20 7401 6033
FDF’s Economic and Commercial Services Director, Steve Barnes, said factors such as the Eurozone recession, extreme weather and a disappointing 2012 UK harvest had contributed to a difficult start to the year for exports.
“The performance to non-EU markets was hugely encouraging in particular and a credit to companies investing to grow internationally,” he said.
Report Highlights
Categories:
Chocolate: +5.4% to £249m
Cheese: +3.8% to £210m
Soft drinks: +5.5% to £187m
Sweet Biscuits: +14.2% to £136m
Sugar confectionery: +6.8% to £86m
Selected markets:
China: +126% to £102m
Australia: +25.9% to £55m
South Africa: +25.4% to £50m
Hong Kong: +24.9% to £73m
Denmark: +10.8% to £108m
Exports to the EU27 also showed positive signs (+1%), though this was eclipsed by continued high growth to non-EU markets, up 7.5%. China leapt up ten places to enter the top 10 markets for food and drink companies, a climb largely accounted for by a boom in British pork exports (+591%).
Value added foods were up in both EU (+4.9%) and non-EU markets (+8.2%), and sweet biscuits performed particularly strongly (+14.2%). Against a difficult backdrop with cumulative UK exports down by 3.3%, food and non-alcoholic drink exports have performed solidly, showing a 2.5% increase compared to the same period last year.
The report comes as welcome news with today’s launch of the Open To Export Food & Drink Focus Week, a programme of online activity to support food and drink companies in developing export business.
