The UK government has announced a new pork export deal with Chile worth an estimated £20 million over the first five years.
Authorities in the South American country have given the green light to 27 pork processing sites from across all four devolved nations to start commercial exports.
In a statement, the government said that the new market creates export opportunities for the pig industry as “the government, the UK Export Certification Partnership (UKECP) and Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) continue working to develop market access opportunities as part of work to support the sector.”
The UK has an association agreement with Chile, which largely maintains prior preferential trading arrangements and rules of origin. This means UK pork exporters can benefit from the import tariff under the Most Favoured Nation tariff of 6%, subject to certain conditions.
The announcement follows on from Mexico opening its doors to British pork last September, in a deal estimated to be worth £50 million over the first five years.
Bolstering the industry
Farming Minister Victoria Prentis said: “The pig sector is facing a range of challenges and we must make use of all levers available to us. That includes new export markets, and it is great to see the Chilean market open its doors to our pig producers.
“This will be worth £20 million over the next five years and will build on other measures we have introduced to bolster the industry.”
Another valuable market
AHDB international market development director Dr Phil Hadley said: “This announcement is the latest in a run of successful market access wins for the red meat sector and is another example of the high regard and reputation our products command overseas.
“Opening the market for UK pork to Chile, following gaining access to Mexico, will provide our pig farmers and processors with another valuable market to sell their products, providing a much-needed boost for the sector in difficult times.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
