Meat Exports to the EU Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business and Trade
Richard Foord
Main Page: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)Department Debates - View all Richard Foord's debates with the Department for Business and Trade
(2 days, 21 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Kate Dearden)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I congratulate the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) on securing this timely debate on meat exports to the EU and thank him for his remarks. I agree with him that our farmers and processors produce world-class beef, lamb, poultry and pork. I completely hear and recognise his remarks about the importance of lamb in Wales and his constituency—he called it foundational for our economy.
The EU is still our biggest market and, despite recent challenges, demand for British meat remains strong. In 2024, British meat exports to the EU hit a record £1.65 billion, driven by growth in key markets such as France and the Netherlands. In the first 10 months of 2025, red meat exports to the EU reached £1.3 billion—up 16% on 2024.
Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)
In 2019, the amount of fresh beef exported to the European Union was almost 100,000 tonnes, whereas five years later it had dropped to less than 80,000 tonnes. Does the Minister suppose that a revised SPS agreement could get fresh beef exports to the EU back to where they were in 2019?