Imports and Exports
Imports and exports are a fact of life in a modern food and drink industry that
operates in a global context.
The UK exports about £10 billion worth of food and drink each year – more than
half of which has had value added to it through processing by food manufacturers.
About two thirds of our exports go to other European Union member states and the
rest to third countries. Exports are an important revenue stream for
manufacturers, farmers, growers and the general UK economy. However, the market is becoming ever more competitive. Developing nations such
as Brazil, China, India and Argentina are increasingly adding value to their own
agricultural raw materials and consuming them domestically instead of importing
products. At the same time, UK manufacturers are facing rising agricultural raw
material prices and increased bureaucracy and red tape. Because of this, it is
FDF
members' ambition to remain competitive, maintaining key export markets and
winning new ones. To this end, FDF believes it is important the UK's food
industry has
improved market access to non-EU countries, and supports the EU's
ongoing
efforts
to address obstacles such as tariff barriers as set out in its
Market
Access
Strategy.
FDF members also believe it is important that food manufacturers are given
stronger support for export promotion and backs activities such as those run by Food
From Britain, UK Trade and Investment and the British Chamber of Commerce.
However, FDF was shocked by Defra's decision to reduce and eventually
withdraw
funding
for Food From Britain's work by 2011. This could impact severely
on
UK food
and
drink manufacturers' ability to develop new and existing
markets
overseas
given the
importance of food and drink exports to the UK
economy.
Food manufacturers here buy and process about three quarters of the output
produced by UK farmers and growers. But it is still necessary to import food and
drink
into this country since the UK is only 60% self-sufficient in agricultural
produce. In addition, many of the fruits and vegetables popular with consumers
are not
grown here, or are only produced seasonally, again necessitating
imports.
In
total, the UK imports about £23 billion worth of food and drink each
year,
more than
half of which goes for further processing.
More Information
Last reviewed: 16 May 2008