UK imported £23bn worth of food in first six months of 2018

Britain imported £5.4bn worth of fruit and veg in the first six months of 2018
Britain imported £5.4bn worth of fruit and veg in the first six months of 2018

The UK imported £23bn worth of consumable products from around the world further highlighting the UK's declining self-sufficiency, new figures show.

The import data for the first 6 months of 2018 was collected from HM Revenue & Customs and broken down into countries and categories.

Analysis of the 21m tonnes of food imported into Britain from January shows that, for example, £5bn of meat on British shelves comes from overseas.

Primary exporters of chicken, of which Britain received £392m worth, were the Netherlands with 43%, Poland with 17%, and Ireland with 10%.

Britain also imported £425m worth of beef from Ireland and £171m worth of pork from Denmark.

Heavy reliance from Spain

The UK
The UK's reliance on European markets has been exposed

Fruit and vegetables wise, Britain imported £5.4bn worth of it in the first six months of 2018, according to the research by Glotechrepairs.co.uk.

This amount of fruit and veg came from all over the world, with almost a fifth (19%) of British fruit and veg imports coming from Spain, 11% being exported from the Netherlands and 5% coming from South Africa.

Figures show that £155m and £115m worth of potatoes came from the Netherlands and Belgium, respectively.

Other highlights from European countries include the £52 million worth of seeds from Romania, the £12 million worth of olives and capers from Greece, and £3000 worth of Liechtenstein wine.

The release of the figures follow news that Britain produced 60% of its own food in 2017, and this rate is in long-term decline.

NFU President Minette Batters has urged the government to put the nation’s food security at the top of the political agenda following the release of the stagnating figures.