Wine – UK’s fastest-growing export

Wine is currently the UK’s fastest-growing export having risen in value by 177% in the last four years according to figures from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department of International Trade.

In comparison, the UK’s gin exports have increased in value by 36% and whisky by 12%. Simon Stannard, the European & International Affairs Director for the Wine & Spirits Trade Association there reckoned that UK gin sales could increase by another 40% over the next five years.

Altogether British exports were worth over £22bn in 2017 and the two departments aim to increase this by a further £2.9bn by 2020.

The two UK government bodies teamed-up to promote British food and drink recently through the first British Spirits and Sparkling Wine Week in New York.

According to the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Food Minister David Rutley, “America continues to be a growing market for us and its consumers have an increasing interest in our whiskies, gins and sparkling wines – gin exports alone have risen by £49 million in the last four years”.