UK FOOD exports have achieved a new high, with the figures for the first quarter of 2017 up 8.3% on 2016, hitting a record-breaking £4.9 billion.
This was once again based on the UK’s top three export products – whisky, salmon and chocolate. Ireland, France and the United States were the top three destinations for UK food and drink exports in terms of overall value.
Positive growth was reported in all of the UK’s top 20 export markets, except for Spain which saw a 21.6% decrease compared with 2016.
The three export markets with the greatest percentage growth in value in Q1 were South Korea, Belgium and South Africa.
Beer was the main component in export growth to South Korea, while wheat and barley were behind the rise in Belgian exports, and animal feed boosted those to South Africa.
Exports of salmon saw the largest value growth, up 52.3% in the first quarter of 2017. Wine showed the largest increase in terms of export volume, up by 13.8%.