MORE recognition should be given to the importance of food and drink sector in the run up to Brexit, with latest figures revealing that UK exports reached a record high for the first quarter of 2017.

That is the claim of the Food and Drinks Federation (FDA) and Food and Drink Exports Association (FDEA), which claims that export sales totalled £4.9bn – up 8.3% on the same period in 2016, with the top three products being whisky, salmon and chocolate selling mostly to Ireland, France and the United States.

With the General Election fast approaching, FDF has called upon the next Government to recognise strategic importance of UK food and drink and the huge untapped export potential among UK manufacturers. At present only 20% of food and drink manufacturers actively export and FDF wants to work in partnership with Government to scale-up its provision of specialist export support in food and drink.

"The growth of food and alcoholic drink exports we've seen in quarter one is very encouraging news for our industry," said Ian Wright, director general of the FDF.

"We want to work with Government to take advantage of increased demand for UK products overseas and the opportunities that leaving the EU is expected to create. We would encourage the new Government to look to Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board) as inspiration in creating an organisation to help turbocharge sales of UK food and drink globally."

The three export markets that saw the greatest percentage growth in value in the first quarter of 2017 were South Korea (+40.3%), Belgium (+37.3%), and South Africa (+31.2%). Beer was the key driver in export growth to South Korea, while wheat and barley were behind the rise in Belgian exports, and animal feed boosted those to South Africa.

Exports of salmon saw the largest value growth, up 52.3% in Q1, with wine experiencing the largest increase in terms of export volume, up 13.8%.

While the fall in the price of the pound had helped to boost UK export competitiveness, this currency weakness has also led to an increase in the cost of many essential imported ingredients and raw materials. This has resulted in the UK’s food and drink trade deficit increasing by 19% to -£6.2bn in Q1 2017.

The impact of weaker sterling on British exports is expected to be seen in Q3 2017 as companies negotiate new sales agreements with overseas buyers.