More than 93,000t of cheese were exported by the UK in the first half of 2018 – up about 18% compared to the same period last year.
Within this, exports of traditional territorial cheeses (cheeses named after a particular location) were down 6%, but cheddar and other cheeses were up 19% and 18%, respectively.
As seen in the first quarter of this year, increased exports to the EU continue to be the main driver of this growth, with volume shifts still following the same pattern.
Exports to Ireland, Denmark and Germany did drop a little between the first quarter and second quarter of 2018 but are still notably higher than a year previous.
Meanwhile, exports to Spain have been growing since the second quarter of 2017, and had a particular uplift this year, which was up 56% on the first quarter and 160% higher than the second quarter of 2017.
UK cheese exports
On the value side, first-half exports were worth £320 million, up 12% compared to the first half of 2017. However, the figure was down 2% on the second half of 2017.
This is mainly due to a drop in average prices, which fell back between the fourth quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018.
