Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to encourage Chinese investors to invest in the UK dairy industry.

China is one of the UK’s priority markets for investment. The Government is providing increased funding to UKTI across its China network and in the UK. The state visit last month demonstrated China’s recognition that the UK is one of the most open markets in the world for foreign investment and there is significant appetite from Chinese companies to invest here.

UKTI has a dedicated Food and Drink sector team and proactively works with potential Chinese investors. The UK offers Chinese investors strong proposals for milk powder, cheese (Cheddar) and butter production due to the vibrant dairy research sector, temperate climate and increasing milk production volumes.

Last week the Secretary of State was in China supporting the Food is GREAT campaign there; dairy is a key focus area allowing participating British companies to meet potential Chinese investors and buyers looking to invest in the UK and source UK dairy products.