UK food and drink exports continue to be hampered by geopolitical challenges, with the latest official data showing volumes in the first half of the year were 11.7% down on the same period in 2025.
Total export volumes stood at four billion kg in H1 of 2026, the third lowest since the turn of the century and only marginally higher than at the height of the Covid pandemic, the Food & Drink Federation’s latest Trade Snapshot, analysing HMRC data, revealed. Total food and drink exports for the period stood at £12.4bn in value terms, down 3.4% year on year, the data showed.
At the same time, imports of food and drink continued to rise, hitting their second-highest level on record. They are up 3% compared to 2024 levels to 19.1 billion kg, which is only slightly behind last year’s figure.
As a result, the UK’s food and drink trade deficit now sits at £21.1bn – the highest level since 2000, the industry body said, while claiming UK food production was “becoming less competitive globally, with international competitors gaining ground in the UK market”.
The FDF highlighted ongoing post-Brexit border friction as a key driver of the export slump, with the value of shipments to the bloc down 0.9%, including substantial declines to the UK’s top two export markets, Ireland (–4.9%) and France (–4.6%).
Non-EU exports also fell sharply, by 6.9% in value terms – driven by falling food and drink exports to the Middle East as a result of the ongoing Iran conflict. For example, exports to UAE fell by nearly a quarter (23.4%).
The 10% tariff imposed by the US also had a major impact, with food and drink export values to the country down 16.5%.
And with the UK suspending tariffs on a range of manufactured foods earlier this year, the government was “exacerbating an already widening trade gap and undermining UK producers by improving competitors’ access to the UK market”, the FDF said.
“Instead of making it easier for international businesses to sell their goods here, it should focus on addressing the competitiveness and concerns of UK manufacturers,” it urged.
“Our food and drink trade deficit is growing and is now the largest it’s been in over 25 years,” said FDF CEO Karen Betts. “In a world beset by conflict and the ever-increasing impacts of climate change, this poses some stark questions about our food security.”
Pressures on manufacturers were “significant and growing, with the cost of everything they need to make food going up, from energy and ingredients, to logistics, packaging and labour”, Betts added.
“Constantly changing regulation and high compliance costs are adding to this and making UK businesses uncompetitive both here and abroad.”
The FDF is urging government to address the “concerning” trade slump by improving the domestic investment environment by prioritising and simplifying regulation, ensuring tariff suspensions strengthen domestic manufacturing rather than favouring overseas competitors and ensuring food and drink businesses are able to use the range of UK free trade agreements.
It added Andy Burnham’s government also needed to make sure the UK-EU SPS agreement “levels the playing field for UK exporters”, which as The Grocer reported yesterday, remained dogged by uncertainty and concerns large parts of the food sector would be worse off.
“These figures should be a wake-up call,” said NFU president Tom Bradshaw. ”At a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty, we cannot afford to take our food production capacity for granted.”
The pressures facing farm businesses were “immense”, Bradshaw added, from rising costs and regulatory burdens to extreme weather and global market volatility.
”If government is serious about food security, economic growth and national resilience, it must create the conditions that give businesses the confidence to invest, innovate and grow,” he urged.
“A strong food manufacturing sector depends on a strong farming sector. This widening food trade deficit underlines the need for a clear, long-term plan that backs British production and recognises a simple truth that food security is national security.”
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