Food: Exports

(asked on 20th September 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to involve (a) Leicestershire and (b) other food and drink producing counties in the development of a marketing strategy for British food exports.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 28th September 2021

The Government has a manifesto commitment that ‘we want people, both at home and abroad, to be lining up to buy British’.

We are working with the sector to raise domestic and international awareness of the UK’s growing reputation for high-quality food and drink produced to high standards of food safety, animal welfare and sustainability. This will provide a catalyst for growth for all regions of the UK and increase global recognition of the UK as an innovative food nation.

Defra works in tandem with the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Cabinet Office to deliver the food and drink pillar of the GREAT campaign, which helps businesses to succeed in overseas markets by building global recognition of UK excellence in food and drink. The campaign showcases exemplar food and drink products from all parts of the UK, including quality local and protected food and drink from our regions. For example, in recent activity we have highlighted traditional Melton Mowbray pork pies, Red Leicester cheese and craft gin from Leicestershire.

The GREAT food and drink campaign is focused on priority markets, including the USA, China, Japan and the UAE. Activity is being planned across all priority markets for the coming year, where we will work with UK businesses and UK overseas posts to promote the best of UK food and drink on the international stage.

In addition, the Government is appointing more dedicated ‘agri-food attachés’ to act as representatives on the ground to unlock key markets across the world. This will build on the excellent teams already working in our Embassies around the world.

We are also establishing a Food and Drink Exports Council to work collaboratively to expand our food and drink exports strategy. In tandem, we are strengthening our technical expertise as well as our farmers and producers’ understanding of export markets to ensure that food and drink exporters are able to benefit from market opportunities.

We are providing food and drink companies with advice and tools to build export capability. DIT recently launched its Open Doors campaign with a focus on the food and drink sector. This provides companies with access to online tutorials, webinars, mentoring and specialist advice to help them capitalise on export opportunities across the world.

Taken together, this range of initiatives will support food and drink businesses from across the UK to access growing opportunities to export.

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