UK gives the world a January juice boost

Overseas sales of UK-produced fruit and vegetable juices reached a record £65m in 2014.

Apple and orange juice are among the country’s biggest international sellers with £35m in sales. UK juices are now shipped to 96 countries including fruit havens Spain, Italy, Brazil and America.

The demand for UK fruit and veg drinks has soared by almost 40% since 2010 making the UK the fourth biggest juice exporter in the EU.

This adds to the UK’s growing food and farming sector, which is now worth a staggering £103bn to the UK economy and employs one in eight people. Overall, UK food and drinks exports now stand at £18.9bn, their highest ever.

Environment secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “It’s testament to the can-do attitude of our UK juicers that they’re selling orange juice to the likes of America and Spain, countries famed for their orange production – though given we’re already selling ice to Sweden and cheese to France it shouldn’t come as a great surprise.

“This dramatic rise in demand for UK juiced fruit and veg is fantastic news for our growing economy – with 96 countries worldwide now enjoying our juices there’s potential for industry to drive sales even further.”

Fruit juice and cordial company Belvoir Fruit Farms has seen sales soar with exports rising 60% between 2013 and 2014 to £2.6m. Its drinks are found in a growing number of countries across Europe, Scandinavia, America, Canada, the Middle East and South East Asia. Its USA market more than doubled in the last year and it has now secured new business in Austria, Slovakia, France and South Korea.

Peter Webster, Belvoir’s head of international sales, said: “Export sales worldwide are becoming increasingly important to the Belvoir business, driven by our signature Elderflower Presse which still makes up the largest proportion of all of our global sales and is soon set to be our number 1 product in the USA.

“Naturalness, organics and great taste are very important factors for consumers across the world and Belvoir can tick these boxes. We’re looking forward to an extremely successful 2015.”