The UK’s Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Andrea Leadsom was on a trade mission to China earlier this week, following a Chinese inspection of a beef farm and abattoir in England last month.

“This visit from the Chinese delegation was a significant step towards opening the door for our world-class beef into this hugely lucrative market,” Leadsom said in a statement.

Phil Hadley, AHDB Beef & Lamb head of global supply chain development, said the next steps had been agreed with Chinese officials towards opening their market to British beef. “We are at the beginning of a long road and it is going to take some time to negotiate the full opening of the market,” he warned.

According to Leadsom, British food and drink exports to China totalled £200m in the first half of 2016.

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Progress on China reported at Beef Forum