FDF proposes new approach to trade policy to drive economic growth and improve affordability of food

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is publishing a Trade and Investment Strategy that champions the interests of the UK’s food and drink industry, to help deliver growth in communities across the country alongside strengthening choice and affordability for UK households at a time of rising inflation.

With the UK Government poised to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the UK’s independent trade policy and ability to strike new trade deals around the world, the FDF’s strategy sets out a positive, comprehensive, cross-government approach on which the food and drink sector can partner with government to deliver tangible gains for the UK economy. 

The FDF’s aim is to maximise the benefits of food and drink trade by driving up exports, ensuring the UK is a global hub for innovation and R&D investment, and ensuring that imports support consumer choice, affordability and the UK’s food security.

The strategy highlights the importance of imports both for the UK’s food supply and as a key component to expand long-term growth in sustainable value-added exports, ensuring innovation and the creation of new jobs. Any new preferential trade agreements must also insist on the need for high standards of production, environmental sustainability and animal welfare while recognising the unique features of the UK food and drink supply mix.

The Food and Drink Federation’s Chief Executive Karen Betts said:

“The food and drink sector aims to offer shoppers unrivalled choice at affordable prices across a huge range of products. Trade is an important part of that, since we rely on imports of many ingredients that aren’t produced in the UK, like spices. We also export both traditional and innovative British products around the world, from our world-famous biscuits to gluten-free foods and salmon. 

“Our report looks at how government and industry put food and drink at the heart of the UK’s new, independent trade policy, and ensures this supports companies in our sector to grow and thrive. Trade is also a means of curbing rising costs, which is particularly important now at a time of soaring inflation.

“This strategy sets out the strong partnership we want to continue to foster with the UK Government and Devolved Administrations, so our industry can play its full role in growing UK exports and in using trade to deliver economic growth and prosperity across the UK, to communities up and down the country.”

Secretary of State for International Trade, Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, said:

“We want to see businesses fulfilling their trade and exporting potential, boosting green trade and growing our economy.

“The UK is home to world-class food and drink, and our ambitious trade deals will continue to open new markets for the excellent products made in the UK and sold to the world.”

Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs George Eustice MP, said:

“Our food industry is bigger than the automotive and aerospace industries combined – and more evenly dispersed across our country. 

“There are opportunities for our food and drink businesses in markets around the world, and we want everyone to be lining up to buy British. I look forward to working with the sector to ensure that businesses across the UK can take advantage of the opportunities ahead.”

The FDF’s UK Trade and Investment Strategy has been produced in partnership with Global Counsel and will enable the UK Government to deliver the greatest impact for the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector.

ENDS

Notes for editors:

1. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector. For more information about FDF and the industry we represent visit our website
2. Global Counsel is a public policy consultancy that specialises in supply chain resilience and innovation in international trade policy. Since 2016 it has collaborated with the FDF and its members on several projects designed to inform the design of an independent UK trade policy for food and drink. Visit their website.

*ANNEX

The UK FDF trade and investment strategy in seven arguments

1. Coming out of the EU requires the UK to consider how it reframes a trade policy customised to the UK’s specific strengths, trade profile and priorities for food and drink standards. This will enable the UK to bring a consistent set of aims both to FTA negotiations and to its wider trade policy for food and drink.
2. Imports have to be at the heart of this policy, for the simple reason that the UK is, and probably will always be, a net food importer. How it taxes imported food, how it creates resilience and delivers value for consumers with a mix of domestic and imported production and how it enforces high standards for imported food need to be at the heart of its trade policy. The UK should only tax food imports when there is a clear supply resilience, sustainability or standards case for doing so. The report sets out a ‘3S’ system for assessing this.
3. The UK should not be afraid to link trade privileges with high standards in the way it has for labour and environmental commitments. It should pioneer approaches to FTAs that link import privileges with commitments to high standards for animal and worker welfare and food and drink production – the report contains ideas for doing this.
4. The UK food and drink export promotion strategy should target its strengths in value-added production. The UK may be a net importer of food and drink, but its comparative advantages in exports are genuinely strong. Value-add is often key to these strengths – innovative manufacturing and massively valuable brand equity. Export growth is a key driver of productivity and helps ensure continued competitive prices for consumers. Any UK export promotion strategy needs to have a clear focus on targeting these value-added products and, where necessary, defending this IP.
5. Trade policy and customs policy need to be part of the same picture for food and drink. Food is highly regulated, and trading it can be complex, especially for small businesses. Delays at borders add significant costs, adding to food waste by reducing the shelf lives of many food products. The reason that the FDF strategy focuses so heavily on digitalisation and simplification in the customs system is because the biggest obstacle to trading food can often be the practicalities of moving its across borders.
6. The UK should champion regulatory cooperation on food and drink with its most trusted trading partners. No two states regulate food in exactly the same way. But many states pursue the same basic aims and outcomes in food regulation. The UK should champion using this basic insight to unlock simplification in food and drink trade through a ‘mutual regulatory reliance’ approach.
7. The UK should leverage trade policy to help encourage inward investment in food and drink. A strategic approach to imports, a pro-innovation domestic ecosystem and a network of carefully chosen preferential trade agreements can all help make the UK the best place in the European region to locate investment in food and drink innovation and production.

The FDF’s Trade and Investment Strategy includes 20 recommendations to enable the UK government to deliver the greatest impact for the nation’s food and drink sector.