10 July 2024
The UK government says that a UK-India agreement would help put Britain at the heart of the Indo-Pacific region.
It's an area representing more than 40% of global gross domestic product and containing some of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
A FTA would bring:
India has not been an easy market to gain access to, meaning the UK would be in a strong position if a deal is concluded.
6 July 2024
The Labour Government take office, with early engagement between the Prime Ministers of the UK and India. Both sides discussed the Free Trade Agreement with Prime Minister Kier Starmer saying he stands ready to conclude a deal which works for both sides. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has previously said that they wish to conclude a deal with the UK in the first 100 days of office.
Sector opportunities
While Muslims and Christians make up only 16% of the Indian population, that’s still a target audience of 220m people for beef. The UK has an export certificate in place for genetics and semen. But India currently bans the import of any beef to its country and this is unlikely to be overcome in a trade deal.
Opportunities for pork exist in the growing tourism and foodservice sector. India’s attempts to modernise and commercialise its pig farms could offer an opening for the pig sector due to the UK’s reputation for genetics and animal health, not to mention expertise in breeding.
Lamb is eaten by all religions in India, and while it may make sense to send halal meat to cater for all tastes, there could be opportunity around religious festivals.
For dairy, it’s a case of navigating the patchy cold chain infrastructure that exists in India to really maximise the openings.
Exports of less perishable fruits such as apples have already found a degree of success in India and there could be more to come.
Challenges and barriers
While the potential of the Indian market is clear, there are also a wide range of challenges specific to the country.
There are specific issues for sugar and eggs. In December 2021, the WTO (World Trade Organisation) ruled that the Indian sugar regime breaches its rules on agricultural support, export subsidies and notification of subsidies to the WTO. This is a situation that amounts to a distortion of the world sugar market. The NFU has been clear that the UK Government should not offer any access to our prized sugar market in light of these illegal export subsidies.
1 June 2023
NFU Sugar Chairman Michael Sly and NFU Sugar Commercial and Market Insights Manager Arthur Marshall met with officials in Downing Stree, where they were able to lay out NFU Sugar’s concerns directly to government.
India is a major global sugar producer, regularly in the top one or two in the world. In 2021/22 it exported a record amount, supported by an extensive programme of subsidies, price guarantees and other direct support.
Despite a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling in 2021 that the Indian sugar regime was illegal, without the teeth to enforce it, the ruling has had no impact on India’s sugar sector policies.
Concessions on sugar within an FTA with India would therefore require UK sugar beet growers to compete with a production system that is propped up by an extensive, and illegal, government subsidy regime.
“The UK homegrown sugar industry is a true British success story and is one of the most efficient sugar producers in the world,” says NFU Sugar Chairman, Michael Sly. “But British growers cannot be expected to go toe-to-toe against imports from countries that use illegal subsidies to gain an unfair competitive advantage over them.”
The only way to effectively limit the exposure of UK sugar beet growers to Indian sugar is to refuse to grant bilateral preferences under the FTA.
Concessions on sugar within an FTA with India would not only risk considerable undue economic harm to the homegrown sugar sector but, with India’s sugar subsidy regime in breach of international trade law, also compromise the UK Government’s own commitment to champion global rules-based trade.
13 January 2022
Negotiations formally launched between the UK and India to establish an FTA with the objective by Boris Johnson to conclude by Diwali
31 August 2021
The government ran a 14-week consultation on future free trade with India, which closed on 31 August 2021.
The UK government is seeking a deal that removes or reduces tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade and investment between the UK and India.
You can read our response here: NFU consultation response on UK-India trade deal.
However, India is among the top 10 agricultural exporters globally. This includes commodities such as:
India already enjoys preferential access to the UK market via the Generalised Scheme of Preference (GSP) for certain key commodities.
Any agreement must ensure our farmers and growers are not undercut by allowing in agri-food imports that would be illegal to produce domestically.
Trade barriers
Currently, UK businesses are met with considerable trade barriers when exporting to India – both tariffs and non-tariff barriers.
These barriers reduce UK business’ ability to trade into the market efficiently.
We have asked, therefore, that in the UK-India FTA, efforts should be made to not only liberalise the Indian market but also reduce the non-tariff barriers to trade for UK business.
Market development
To make the most of the opportunity presented by the Indian market the government must be prepared to invest in market promotion and development.
This page was first published on 11 August 2021. It was updated on 10 July 2024.
Once you have submitted your query someone from NFU CallFirst will contact you. If needed, your query will then be passed to the appropriate NFU policy team.
