(NewsDakota.com/NAFB) – New data from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows the United Kingdom is the world’s fifth-largest importer of agricultural products.

The U.K. imported $78.2 billion in agricultural and related goods in 2021 and exported $31.9 billion, less than half the value of imports. Historically, the European Union has been the largest trading partner with the U.K., but the U.K.’s formal departure from the European single market, known as “Brexit,” will likely impact the UK’s trade dynamics as the country seeks to diversify trading partners.

An estimated two-thirds of agricultural goods imported by the U.K. in 2021 were high-value, consumer-oriented products. The United States exported about $1.12 million in alcoholic beverages to the U.K. in 2021. Agreements between the U.K. and the United States in 2022 to allow for the export of British beef and lamb to the United States for the first time since the 1990s are expected to generate $50 million in trade over the next five years.