The latest data from HMRC/GTIS showed that in the first eight months of the year, total imports of fresh and frozen poultrymeat into the UK rose by 2.9% on the corresponding period last year.
The UK sourced over 94% of fresh and frozen poultry products from the EU market and imports from this market were up by just over 3% year on year. The Netherlands is by far the biggest supplier of fresh and frozen poultry meat into the UK, accounting for 45.6% of the total imports, however imports from this source were down over 4% year on year. Poland remains the second largest supplier of fresh and frozen poultry meat to the UK (with over 13% of total imports). Volumes from Poland has increased by 5.9% on the previous year.
Drilling deeper into the data it was found that both Italy and Spain, are relatively minor trading partners for the UK when it comes to imports. For the first eight months of the year imports of fresh and frozen poultry from Italy were significantly lower, down almost 36% year on year. In contrast, imports from Spain were up 62% on the same period last year. However, please note, in terms of share of the overall imports, these accounted for 1.3% in 2014.
Similarly, exports of fresh and frozen poultry from the UK are also rising. Overall exports in January-August 2014 rose by 7.7% on the year previous year. The EU market accounts for 68.9% of UK’s exports. In terms of key destinations – the Netherlands receives over 32% of our exports and volume exported to this destination rose by just over 24% during the same period. Ireland is the second biggest receiver of UK’s export, accounting for almost 13% of the share.