The UK government has been told it has to establish a unified front for Britain's food and drink manufacturing export sector if it wants to compete seriously on the world stage.
Speaking at Gulfood in Dubai, chair of the English Food & Drink Alliance and chief executive of Deliciously Jonathan Knight said the UK was falling behind other countries who were providing buyers with a clear brand.
“The big message here is Britain has to get its act together if we want to be on the world stage of food and drink exporting because if you look at any other stand it is far more impressive than the UK which is a bit of a shame,” Knight said.
| Advertisement |
“One problem we’ve got, if you look around a show like this, the presence of most of the nations is enormous. The presence of Britain is very under par — we don’t do ourselves any favours by not having a strong British brand; we have bits of UK spread around the place.”
Knight added that a “better focus” and “recognition” that food and drink exporting is important to Britain “has to start with the coalition government”.
“Then it needs a real focus on coordinating the activities so that if you are a buyer from India you can see the British offer in one area, the same way you can with Turkey, with Afghanistan or Argentina. As ex colonials we are not very good at selling ourselves oversees.”
The English Food & Drink Alliance has formed to bring together English food groups to raise the profile of the country and fill the perceived lack of a single entity representing the sector.
“British food and drink manufacturing it is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, so it should be one that is really promoted, because the more we produce in the UK for export the more we can sustain ourselves longer term,” he said.
“A foresight report said we will need three times as much food in 20 years time as we have now, so supporting a good food and drink manufacturing sector is important.”
Knight also highlighted the importance of the region and Gulfood to the UK F&B export sector and saw a “great market opportunity”.
“The Middle East has a huge expat population and an increasing awareness of the appeal of western tastes and brands,” he asserted.
“There has been a lot more interest not only from the Emirates, but also India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — Gulfood has become a major hub for anything coming to the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
“If you look at the hotels and food service, everything here has to be imported so why not get it from the UK in certain cases? I think when the UK market is tough and the pound is weak it’s a great time to export.”
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
