According to EURACTIV, the United Kingdom announced a plan of trade measures for the agriculture, food and drink industry on Tuesday, designed to allow businesses in the industry struggling in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak to grow their trade activity overseas.
The plan, which will be driven jointly by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for International Trade (DIT), offers a package of measures designed to “turbocharge” the UK agrifood and drink industry and ensure it benefits from new trade and investment opportunities, including future free trade agreements.
The agriculture, food and drink sector is the UK’s largest manufacturing industry and plays a vital role in the country’s food supply chain, which contributed £121 billion to the UK economy in 2018 while supporting around four million jobs.
In 2019, UK food, feed and drink exports were worth £23.7 billion, up 4.9% from 2018.
This plan centres around strengthening ties with Japan, US, New Zealand and Australia, allowing companies to capitalise on the trade agreements which are currently underway. Over the last two months, the DIT has launched the first round of talks for Free Trade Agreement negotiations with these countries.
