Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to reduce tariffs on food from African countries.

The UK currently grants preferential tariff access to food imports from 51 African countries through the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) or one of the nine Free Trade Agreements the UK has secured with African regions and countries.

These arrangements offer tariff-free access for all food products from 43 African countries and preferential rates on many products from the other 8 countries.

In early 2023, the GSP will be replaced by the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) which will offer more generous tariff preferences to Algeria, the Republic of the Congo and Nigeria including on more than 1,000 additional food products.