China’s imports of U.K. food rose 82 percent in 2013 from 2012, driven by spectacular sales of pork and salmon, making the world’s second largest economy a prime market for British food exports outside the European Union.
The value of British food and soft drinks exports to China rose from 92 million pounds ($151.72 million) in 2012 to 201 million pounds in 2013, according to the U.K.’s Food and Drink Federation (FDF), a positive step forward for the British government’s bid to reduce the country’s trade deficit by boosting exports, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
A large part of the rise is due to a near doubling of sales of pork and salmon in the past year after the 2011 decision from the Chinese food safety agency to allow the import of both products.