LONDON: Exporting tea to China, to shipping one of Britain’s favorite breakfast cereals to 80 countries, were cited Thursday at the launch of the creation of the Great British Food Unit.
The unit has been established to turbo-charge British food exports and support industry growth plans, with a target of increasing manufactured food exports to around 8.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.
The long term ambition of the new unit is to match France and Germany, which both currently export more than double British exports in terms of the value of food and drink.
The unit will bring together experts in exports and investment from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and across government departments to help even more businesses sell their produce around the globe.
A Defra spokesman said: “Today’s launch of the new Great British Food Unit will back industry targets to further boost exports and support even more British companies to export overseas.”
The unit will support further Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Britain’s food industry which stood at a record 85 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 – nearly a third of all FDI assets in UK manufacturing.
British breakfast cereal giant Weetabix was cited as a success story for foreign investment at the launch.
The Defra spokesman added: “In 2012, Bright Food, China’s second largest food manufacturing company, bought 60 percent of Weetabix for 1.7 billion U.S.dollars due to growing consumer markets in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing.
“The iconic cereal is now reaching breakfast tables in 80 countries worldwide, including Africa, Germany, Spain and North America, with the Bright Food deal set to open markets in East and Western Africa. These deals create and secure more jobs for UK workers.”
During a visit to the Weetabix factory, Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “We produce more new food products each year than France and Germany combined. My long term aspiration is for the UK to match both these countries in terms of the value of exports so our food and drink becomes a worldwide phenomenon. Companies large and small will now find it easier to export overseas.”
