Nus Ghani, MP for Wealden, welcomes a ‘bounce back’ plan of trade measures for agriculture, food and drink industry, to help support businesses that have been impacted by coronavirus.
These new strategic interventions will be driven by the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). They will offer immediate support to help businesses in the industry grow their trade activity overseas and will support producers, manufacturers and agri-tech companies across the food supply chain.
The agriculture, food and drink industry is the UK’s largest manufacturing industry and plays a vital role in the UK’s food supply chain. It contributed £121 billion to the UK economy in 2018, supporting around 4 million jobs.
In 2019, the UK exported £2.4bn of food and drink to the US, £312m to Japan, £453m to Australia and £58m to New Zealand. The plan will provide help for small and medium-sized businesses and allow them to capitalise on trade agreements negotiated with these countries.
Nus Ghani said: “Farmers are the lifeblood of Wealden’s economy. I work with a number of local farmers’ groups, I hold meetings with the Conservative Rural Affairs Group, of which I was the chair, and I regularly discuss the undervalued role of local food production industry with the National Farmers Union.”
“British agriculture, food and drink industry has been significantly impacted by coronavirus and I welcome the Government’s commitment to support the sector's recovery. I will always champion local farmers and I am delighted that they will be able to capitalise on the opportunities that are being opened up by the series of free trade agreements.”
For more information, please visit the Government website here and the Department for International Trade website here.
