The first half of 2025 has been marked by renewed uncertainty for international traders, as US tariffs and geopolitical instability have hit global trade. However, international appetite for the UK’s food and drink products remains strong, as consumers flock to buy ‘brand Britain’.
In the Chartered Institute for Export & International Trade’s customs whitepaper, ‘Growing Trade’, trade and customs specialist Joseph Goldsworthy offered five key strategies for boosting your food and drink exports in 2025.
The free guide covered a number of different areas – including taking advantage of free trade agreements (FTAs), labelling your products and perfecting your paperwork – explaining how to make sure your food and drink trade survives and thrives this year.
Preferential rules
Using preferential rules of origin (ROO) to reduce duty rates on your goods is another strategy you can use to boost your exports.
Each FTA contains preferential ROO criteria that products must meet in order to be granted reduced or negated duty rates.
These ROO are usually stricter than the standard ROO applicable to food and drink products, and can in some cases jeopardise UK exporters’ ability to claim preferential rates of duty.
Despite the complexities, there are tools available to help exporters access these preferential rates and enter new markets.
Cumulation
Cumulation is a commonly misunderstood tool available to exporters.
It allows them to count ingredients from the recipient’s country or customs union as originating in the country of export.
This is particularly useful for some food products which must otherwise be ‘wholly obtained’ in the country of export.
Tolerance
Tolerance is another rule which is available for exports of certain food and drink, allowing a certain percentage of non-originating material in the final manufacture of the product. This rule is sometimes overlooked, and it remains an important tool for traders to consider.
Despite rules stating that all materials going into the manufacture of the product must be ‘wholly obtained’, the tolerance rule would allow UK manufacturers to incorporate a fraction of non-originating material and still have the goods classed as ‘UK origin’.
Expertise
ROO are a particularly tricky area of customs compliance to navigate but they offer advantages when applied correctly. That means that, if you don’t already have the expertise, you should be upskilling staff to understand its complexities.
That upskilling can be done quickly with the world-class experts who lead our Rules of Origin training course and our Practical Workshop. Chartered Institute members enjoy discounted prices on all Chartered Institute training courses.
If you’re not currently a Chartered Institute member and you’d like to benefit from member-exclusive content to improve your FTA knowledge of FTAs, as well as access to a host of other products, explore membership with us here.
The Chartered Institute is also hosting a free webinar on growing your food and drink exports at 2pm on 21 May. You can sign up here.
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