Brexit is a chance to sell British food around the world

. . . says Twinings tea maker of exports boom

BREXIT provides British food producers with ‘significant opportunities’ to sell their goods abroad, said the boss of one of the UK’s biggest retail groups.

George Weston, chief executive of associated British Foods which owns Kingsmill bread, Jordans cereals and Twinings tea, hailed trade opportunities after Brexit.

The food conglomerate, which also owns Primark, already sells Jordans and ryvita to 70 different countries, but Weston said there’s scope to grow its muesli cereal and Patak’s Indian food brand in australia as the fall in the pound makes products more competitive.

ABF added that it has also invested more money in the UK this year than ever before, spending £850m on factories, stores and the refurbishment of Primark.

The comments come as supermarkets battle against rising food prices, and rivals Unilever and Nestle warn of Brexit-related price hikes.

Weston said: ‘I can’t speak for competitors but we have said from the beginning that we don’t produce much food in the eurozone that we don’t sell in the UK.’

He added: ‘The devaluation of sterling has made the UK a very attractive place and the competitiveness of UK-imported food has grown significantly.

‘We are pleased the Government has confirmed that it will allow trade deals with less developed countries like Bangladesh, which will not face an increase in tariffs on their exports to the UK after it leaves the EU.’

The firm makes a lot of its clothing in Bangladesh and imports them into the UK. ABF, which is 50pc- owned by the Weston family, has held talks with a number of government departments including the Treasury, department of agriculture and the department of Exiting the European Union.

Yesterday the group reported a 51pc rise in fullyear earnings, helped by strong sales at its Primark fashion business. Sales jumped 15pc to £ 15.4bn, with Primark’s sales up 19pc to £7.1bn. Profits jumped 22pc to £1.4bn – with Primark contributing £735m.

Its sugar division, however, was the real star of the year after profits surged 547pc to £223m after benefiting from an increase to EU sugar prices. But Weston warned sugar prices will fall again next year after the EU abolished production quotas.