Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of export opportunities in the dairy sector.

The dairy sector is an important contributor to food and drink exports with increasing demand internationally for our products. For example, cheese is our 5^th largest food and drink export and has seen a 26% increase in exports to £292m for the first 6 months of this year. Milk, cream and butter are also seeing increasing demand internationally.

The Department for International Trade’s food and drink team currently run six high value campaigns targeting China, India, Western Europe, North America, Latin America and the Nordics. The dairy sector is integral to the delivery of these campaigns.

To recognise the importance of the food and drink sector, the Great British Food Programme has been designed to allow South West food and drink businesses to directly interact with overseas buyers. Since April 2016 DIT South West has helped businesses in the sector win over £19.5m worth of export business across more than 30 markets.