UK and China sign craft beer deal worth £100 million in barley exports

The decision comes at a time when Britain lobbies to forge closer trade ties with China.

Britain has signed a deal worth up to £100 million to export around 750,000 tonnes of the grain to Chinese breweries over the next five years.

It is the first time that Beijing has approved a deal for British barley imports of the grain and the decision comes at a time when Britain lobbies to forge closer trade ties with China.

“This is a huge market for beer, it’s the world’s biggest market, so there’s lots of opportunities for British firms,” Elizabeth Tuss, Environment Secretary told Reuters in Shangai where she is promoting British food and exports in China.

One of the world biggest beer drinking countries, Chinese consume a whopping 54 billion litres every year, outdrinking the US (24 billion), Brazil (14 billion litres) as well as Russian and Germany (9 billion litres) according to data from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

Meanwhile, total Chinese beer sales are expected to rise 2.6 percent this year to 52.2 billion litters (13.6 billion gallons), or more than double the global forecast of 1 per cent growth, according to Euromonitor.

In addition to using UK barley beer, Chinese fans have also developed a growing liking for British brands with £15 million worth of British beer exported to China last year.

Last month Green King IPA said it unexpectedly got a sales boost after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s was photographed sipping the beer at The Plough at Cadsden pub in Buckinghamshire, where he was taken by David Cameron at the end of his UK state visit

“This deal represents a vast amount of work by AHDB and its partners and a huge opportunity for farmers in the UK”, said Jane King, chief executive of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), who worked with Defra to secure the deal.

“Our staff have worked very hard on levy payers’ behalf to get this protocol off the ground, and we look forward to seeing companies making the most of this new market access,” she said.

Additional reporting by Reuters