Top Line Performance
UK food and non-alcoholic drink exports grew 4.4% in 2009 to £9.65bn, a fifth consecutive year of
record food and non-alcoholic drink export performance.
Compared to the 19.8% growth rate in 2008, the 2009 performance could be viewed
as lacklustre, but with trading conditions proving increasingly difficult as
the
year progressed (food and nonalcoholic drink export growth slowed markedly
after
the first quarter) and the economic climate continuing to prove challenging as
global demand slumped, the end result was highly credible.
Growth of 4.4% compares extremely favourably to the 11.8% drop in exports for
all UK commodities
during 2009, meaning food and drink outperformed the export activity of UK
manufacturing as a
whole.
The continued weakness of the Pound has certainly helped in the last year (£1
was worth €1.12 in
2009 versus €1.28 in 2008 and US$1.55 in 2009 versus US$1.88 in 2008), however,
most of the
benefit was seen in the first half of the year as the Pound strengthened later
on making UK exports
less competitive.
Including alcoholic drinks, total food and drink exports were worth £14.31bn in
2009, 5.0% up on
2008. The key whisky sector, worth £3.21bn alone, achieved only 2.5% growth for
the year and
much of this was down to a strong final quarter performance (whisky exports
were
down on 2008 up
until that point).
Export Sectors
The best performing sector in 2009 was non-alcoholic drinks (soft drinks and
waters), albeit the
smallest sector, with growth of 20.6% to £318.6m driven by strong gains in the
major European
markets such as Ireland, France, Spain and Germany.
The only other sector in double digit growth was fish and seafood, up 15.0% to
£1,160.4m including
strong growth for all key product sectors except crustaceans which continue to
struggle in the key
Spanish market.
British beef (+20.8% to £257.5m) and lamb (+18.6% to £311.9m) continue to see
good progress in
European markets and the meat category as a whole posted a solid 5.0% gain for
the year, taking
the value of meat exports to £1,289.6m.
The dairy sector was the laggard of the year, down 6.9% to £776.9m. The strong
growth seen in
cheese exports in recent years has come to a shuddering halt, with just a 0.5%
rise in 2009 and
exports to key cheese markets such as the Netherlands and the USA struggling to
get near previous
year levels.
Other major added value product areas in strong growth include breakfast cereals
at +17.2%, sweet
biscuits at +8.3%, sauces and condiments at +9.2% and sugar confectionery at
+10.9%.
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Export regions
The EU share of UK food and non-alcoholic drinks exports was 79.2% in 2009 but
non-EU countries
led the way in terms of growth (7.3% growth for non-EU vs. 3.6% growth for EU).
Key non-EU
countries leading the charge include the USA (+17.4%, with growth driven by
fish
and seafood),
Canada (+10.5%, driven by tea and sauces and condiments), the UAE (+18.3%, with
dairy,
breakfast cereals and bakery products strong performers), Australia (+17.2%,
with chocolate and
breakfast cereals well up) and Saudi Arabia (+14.0%, with sauces and condiments
and breakfast
cereals strong).
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Source: Leatherhead Food Research
The main EU economies still dominate the top 10 list of UK food and
non-alcoholic drink export
markets (only the US from outside the EU makes it into the top 10) and have
largely had a solid if
unspectacular 2009 in terms of growth. For example, growth for the top 3
markets
of Ireland, France
and the Netherlands was 5.7%, 6.0% and 9.0% respectively.
Export progress to the EU markets within the Central European region however has
faltered
somewhat with exports to Poland, for example, down 3.0%.
UK food and non-alcoholic drink exports to the 16 members of the Eurozone grew
by 5.0% in 2009,
above the 3.6% growth rate for the EU as a whole and reinforcing the UK's
reliance on the major
Eurozone trading partners within Europe.
UK Exports of Food & Non-alcoholic drinks by EU / Non-EU
2008-2009 (£ million)
| Total |
2008 |
2009 |
% change
2008-09
|
| Total Food and Non-alcoholic drinks exports |
9,246.6 |
9,649.5 |
4.4 |
| Total EU |
7,377.5 |
7,644.3 |
3.6 |
| Total Non-EU |
1,869.1 |
2,005.2 |
7.3 |
| EU % share |
79.8 |
79.2 |
|
| Non-EU % share |
20.2 |
20.8 |
|
Source: Leatherhead Food Research
Notes for comparison
Including alcoholic drinks, total food and drink exports were £14.31bn, 5.0% up
on 2008.
All UK commodities exports at £226.86bn in 2009 were down 11.8% on 2008 (i.e.
the food/nonalcoholic
drinks sector continues to significantly outperform the total of all export
sectors, and
food/non-alcoholic drinks share of total UK exports for 2009 is 4.3%).
Imports of food and non-alcoholic drinks were £29.92bn, up just 2.7% on the same
period in 2008
as food and non-alcoholic drinks exports continue to grow ahead of imports,
reversing the trend over
the last decade.
However, the food and non-alcoholic drinks trade gap has grown 1.9% from a
deficit of £19.89bn in
2008, to a deficit of £20.27bn in 2009.
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More information
Download the full UK Food and Drink Performance (2009) statistics research report - pdf | 228kb
Research carried out by Leatherhead Food Research for the Food and Drink
Federation (April 2010)
Last reviewed: 20 Apr 2010