Food from Britain
The market experts, working for UK producers
Fast facts
The UK food and drink industry is one of the most dynamic in the world. Its reputation for product quality, innovation and marketing is second to none - and its potential for market growth is enormous.
The UK industry
- The food and drink manufacturing industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, with a turnover of £70bn, accounting for 15% of the total manufacturing sector.
- The industry employs some 500,000 people - 13% of the UK manufacturing workforce.
- Food and drink remains the biggest spending category. In 2005, consumer spending on food and drink was nearly £153.8bn - 20% of UK consumer expenditure.
- In 2005, there were over 6,000 new food and drink product launches in the UK, by far the largest number of any European country (twice as many as in France, for example). The UK accounts for 8% of all worldwide product launches in food and drink, punching way above its size.
Exports
- Total food and drink exports from January to September 2006 were worth £7.4bn, up 4% versus 2005.
- Total food and drink exports to the EU were worth £4.9bn in the period January to September 2006, up 5% on the previous year.
- Ireland and France continued to deliver positive results, while exports to Spain declined.
- Germany and the Netherlands performed well, but this was offset by slumping markets in Portugal and Austria.
- Value-added product exports (excluding spirits) were worth £2.5bn in the first nine months of 2006 (+8%).
- The fastest growing export product sectors were soft drinks (+17%), wine (+38%) and tea (+22%).
- Exports to Ireland, the top UK export market, accounted for £1.4bn in the first three quarters of 2006, up 10% from the previous year. Excellent performance, in particular, has been delivered by soft drinks (+15% to £110m), chocolate confectionery (+8% to £91m) and breakfast cereals (+14% to £67m).
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