Top Line Performance
The UK export performance of food and non-alcoholic drink in the first half of 2011 was much stronger than many would have predicted, growing to £5.8bn.
Solid growth was seen in both EU and non-EU markets (exports to the EU up 12.6%
and non-EU up 14.8%), although growth in the first quarter considerably
outperformed growth in the second both for EU (up 15.9% in Q1 and 9.4% in Q2)
and non-EU
exports (up 20.7% in Q1 and 9.3% in Q2).
Therefore in the second quarter growth
in exports to the EU marginally outperformed growth in exports to the non-EU
for
the first time since Q2 2009.
In this section:
Due to non-EU markets growing faster than EU markets in Q1, the EU's share of
total food and non-alcoholic drink exports slipped slightly from 77.5% to 77.4%
when comparing the first quarter of 2011 against the first half.
In the first six months of 2010, £1 was worth on average €1.13, while in the
first six months of 2011 the pound (£) was worth €1.16 making UK exports to the
Eurozone slightly less competitive in the first half of 2011. The marginally
stronger pound did not significantly curtail growth in exports to the Eurozone
(up
10.7% in the first half) but exports to Eurozone countries did grow by 1.9%
less
than exports to the EU as a whole (up 12.6% in first half).
Including alcoholic drinks, total food and drink exports were £8.62bn, 15.5% up
on the same period in 2010 including a 21.4% increase in the key whisky sector.
All UK commodities exports at £154.6bn were up 19.3% on the same period in
2010.
Food and non-alcoholic drink exports are likely to slow but continue to be in
growth in the second half of the year.
The debt problems affecting the Eurozone
coupled with slowing global economic growth is likely to reduce the global
demand
for UK exports. However, as food and drink products are essential goods and as
the £/€ and £/$ exchange rates are still favourable, the export of food and
non-alcoholic drinks is not likely to dip significantly. The debt problems in
Ireland, which were made public late last year, and the negative growth seen in
Q1 did
not seem to impact on the UK's export performance to Ireland in the first half.
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Export Sectors
The first half has seen strong growth in the dairy sector (+30.5%, with butter
+132%, and cheese +57.5%), in fruit and vegetables (+29.6%, driven by seeds and
grains +119.3% and fresh vegetables +16.6%), in meat (+21.0%, including fresh
beef +28.8%, frozen beef +77.7% and poultry +18.7%) and fish and seafood
(+15.0%,
with crustaceans +54% and fresh fish +26.1%).
Key added value grocery products faired well over the first half with the
majority of sectors going up and only a handful going down. The below
shows the
five biggest categories for each movement.
Going up
- Breakfast Cereals (+4.7% to £196.3m)
- Chocolate (+9.7% to £182.4m)
- Soft Drinks (+14.7% to £181.6m)
- Sweet Biscuits (+11.3% to £115.4m)
- Sauces and Condiments (+3.2% to £101.3m)
Going down
- Sugar Confectionery (-19.0% to £188.9m)
- Cakes (-5.9% to £83.2m)
- Crisps (-1.2% to £28.1m)
- Yoghurt (-11.4% to £18.3m)
- Sausages (-21.7% to £6.3m)
Export regions
Throughout the EU the majority of markets grew with three of the top five
biggest EU markets in double-digit growth (Netherlands +27.8%, Germany +27.8%
and
Belgium +48.5%). Exports to Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria and
Luxembourg all contracted in the first half.
Most non-EU regions grew in the first half (North America +19.1%, Asia +18.2%,
Middle East +9.4%, Africa +19.8% and Oceania +12.1%) apart from Latin America
&
the Caribbean which was down 16.6%.
The fastest growing markets within the list of the top 20 countries are: Poland (+83.2%, climbing back in
to the top 20 with chocolate and grain/seeds up considerably), Belgium (+48.5%,
mostly due to treble digit % increases in dairy, cereals and milling products),
Sweden (+38.2%, driven by seeds, fats and oils) and Saudi Arabia (+34.9, mainly
due to food preparations and milling products).
China continues to move ever closer to the top 20 with 52.5% growth in exports
in the first half following large increases in the demand for fish and seafood,
meat and vegetables.
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UK Exports of Food & Non-alcoholic drinks by EU / Non-EU
Jan-June 2010-2011 (£ million)
| Total |
Jan-June 2010 |
Jan-June 2011 |
% change
2010-11
|
| Total Food and Non-alcoholic drinks exports |
5,129.50 |
5,799.80 |
13.1 |
| Total EU |
3,987.60 |
4,489.40 |
12.60 |
| Total Non-EU |
1,141.90 |
1,310.40 |
14.80 |
| EU % share |
77.7 |
77.4 |
|
| Non-EU % share |
22.3 |
22.6 |
|
Source: HMRC Trade Info
Notes for comparison
- Including alcoholic drinks, total food and drink exports were £8.62bn, 15.5% up on the same period in 2010
(including 21.4% growth in whisky exports, the lead category by value)
- All UK commodities exports at £154.6bn were up 19.3% on the same period in 2010.
i.e. the food/non-alcoholic drinks sector has performed below the total of
all
food and drink and below the total of all export sectors for the first half of
2011, and food/non-alcoholic drinks share of total UK exports in the first half
of
2011 has fallen to 3.75% versus a share of 3.96% in the first half of 2010.
- Imports of food and non-alcoholic drinks were £16.6bn in the first half of 2011, up
7.5% on the same period in 2010.
- The food and non-alcoholic drinks trade gap increased from a deficit of £10.33bn in the first half of 2010, to a deficit of
£10.82bn in the first half of 2011.
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More information
Download the full UK Food and Drink Export Performance statistics research report - (first half 2011) - pdf | 112kb
Last reviewed: 05 Oct 2011