FDF AND OPEN TO EXPORT LAUNCH FOOD & DRINK EXPORT MONTH TO HELP BOOST OVERSEAS TRADE

15th Sept 2014

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) today announces the start of a month of food and drink activity with online export community Open to Export, designed to help small and medium-sized food and drink companies grow their exports business.

A joint initiative between Open to Export, Government and industry, the Food and Drink Export Month will run from 15 September – 10 October and include free-of-charge live webinars, latest exports statistics and case studies, as well as the 2014 update of a free downloadable guide ’10 Steps to Export Success’.

The first live webinar on 18 September will feature presentations from successful exporters Kallo Foods, Eat Natural and Queens Award winner Broker Gin, who will give details of their export journey and provide top tips for other businesses looking to begin exporting or expanding into new markets.

Further webinars include a webinar on food labelling and the implications of the new EU regulations on 25th September; ‘How to export dairy’ on 2nd October and ‘How to export beer’ on 9th October.

This activity in 2014 follows the successful launch of the Food & Drink Export Week last year, as part of FDF’s commitment to help exporters overcome the barriers they face when trading overseas and promote the benefits of export to inspire food and drink businesses to start exporting or export more.

Steve Barnes, Director of Economics and Commercial Services at the Food and Drink Federation, said: “The inaugural Food & Drink Focus Week was such a success that we’ve decided to scale it up to a whole month and introduce a raft of new content for 2014. Food & drink exports are a long-term opportunity for growth for companies of all sizes. For those wanting to take a more proactive approach to exports and expand into new markets, the free materials and expert advice on Open to Export throughout the coming weeks should be a valuable resource.”

David Lowe, Director of Operations for Open to Export, said: “Last year’s feature saw thousands of companies make use of the free online resources on Open to Export, with over 200 questions answered on our forum, and 77% of webinar attendees saying they were more likely to consider exporting as a result. We hope that this year’s expanded feature will reach even more companies and get them thinking about the international opportunities for their products.”