Written evidence submitted by British Sugar (BFD0041)

About British Sugar

British Sugar is part of AB Sugar – a business segment of Associated British Foods plc (ABF). ABF is a diversified food, ingredients and retail group with 2017 sales of £15.4 billion and 133,000 employees in 50 countries.

British Sugar manufactures sugar from sugar beet grown in Britain – predominantly across East Anglia and the East Midlands. The home-grown sugar industry is one of the most efficient in Europe, making an economic contribution of over £700 million/year and supporting 9,500 jobs throughout the economy, many of which are in rural areas.

We work in close partnership with the 3,500 farmers who grow and supply the crop, NFU Sugar, and 7,000 other businesses from across the country. The British beet sugar industry is consequently highly integrated.

Our experience in this area is focused on a few topics only, which we highlight below.  We hope this is helpful in the context of the inquiry.

What level of support is given by the UK Government to trade bodies and companies to break into overseas markets?

1. Since the removal of EU sugar quotas in October 2017, there is no longer an artificial cap on the volume of sugar we can sell. As a result, we are now exporting increasing volumes of sugar to Europe and the world market, and we are continuing to look to grow our exports. Given we were previously operating under quotas, and were therefore unable to export our product in any substantial volumes, we have to-date no significant experience of the support provided by the UK Government to companies looking to break into overseas markets.

2. However, as we look to the future and Brexit we would value any assistance the UK Government could offer to find and develop new export markets for homegrown British sugar. New markets that we are looking at include Canada, the US, Algeria, Russia and the Central Asian region, Egypt, China and Saudi Arabia.

How can the UK Government leverage industry quality marks such as the Red Tractor Assured Food Standard to underpin the UK’s reputation for high standards at home and abroad?

3. We support the work of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the National Farmers Union (NFU) to promote British food and drink both at home and abroad.

4. Our 3,500 growers all meet the requirements of The Red Tractor cereal and sugar beet assurance standards. We would encourage the Government to continue to support and promote schemes like Red Tractor, to build on the strength of the British food and agriculture brands.

5. We believe that central to ensuring that the UK Government is able to leverage the UK’s reputation for high standards at home and abroad is ensure that those high standards are maintained.

6. The EU and UK currently enforce strict environmental standards in their agriculture and food production. We believe it is essential that there is no reduction of UK standards following Brexit to ensure that domestic agriculture and food production industries continue to produce high quality food which is desirable both in the UK and internationally.

7. We would also oppose any reduction in traceability and sustainability standards.

What can be done to encourage consumers to buy British at home?

8. Choice is very important. At British Sugar, for example, we know that people who are aware of the homegrown beet sugar industry, and the significant economic contribution it makes to communities across East Anglia and the East Midlands, are often keen to buy British – either by purchasing products made using British Sugar, or when purchasing sugar products looking to purchase Silver Spoon (the retail brand for our homegrown beet sugar). However, in some cases they are unable to do so as products are not stocked in their local stores.

9. Polling conducted by ComRes on behalf of British Sugar published in June 2017 found that the majority of shoppers (55%) would be willing to pay a bit more for British-grown products, and ‘supporting my local community’ (22%) and ‘supporting British jobs’ (17%) were rated as higher priorities in grocery shopping than value for money (14%).[1]

10. There is already, therefore, a preference among many domestic consumers for buying British. To continue to encourage this, awareness is important to ensure that consumers know which produce is grown or produced in Britain, and are also aware of the economic contribution made by the British food production industry.

11. We support the work that the NFU does to promote British food and welcome a continued positive focus on the benefits that the industry can deliver to the UK.

12. Consumers buy products for a range of reasons, including provenance. We also therefore strongly support the continued adoption and enforcement by the UK of rigorous rules of origin which are currently in place with the EU. We believe this is essential to underpin food traceability for consumers and to ensure that the benefits from trade agreements pass to the intended countries.

13. Despite all of the above, we also recognise that simply being British is not enough on its own, and that several factors are important in purchasing decisions, including price and quality. We’re proud to be British but we remain focused on our continued competitiveness as a business and an industry, and on continuing to deliver a quality product.

June 2018