Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many pork export licences to China were voluntarily surrendered by UK abattoirs in 2020; and how many and what proportion of these surrendered licenses are yet to be reinstated.

The China export licences of five UK pork establishments were suspended following COVID-19 outbreaks at their sites in 2020 and 2021. The export licenses of three of these five establishments remain suspended.

High-quality UK agri-food and drink exports are an important part of our trading relationship with China, with over a quarter (28%) of our overall pork exports going to China in 2022, with a value of £95m. We recognise that these exports link to UK jobs, which is why Ministers have been consistently and proactively raising these suspensions as a priority with their Chinese counterparts to achieve the relisting of the pork establishments as soon as possible.