Peter Hardwick, the group’s head of trade development, said: “The UK is a major sheep meat producer, the largest in the EU and third in terms of global trade behind only Australia and New Zealand.”

Last year, UK sheep meat exports climbed 11% to reach 98,500t product weight compared with the previous year.

But sheep meat imports fell 13% to 88,000t during the same period.

Product weight imports have exceeded exports for most of the past 50 years.

Exports to France accounted for 60% of the total. Shipments to Germany and Ireland both increased by about 66% year-on-year.

Popular destinations

Deliveries to non-EU markets were up 41% at 5,800t. Popular destinations included: Switzerland, Norway, various African states including South Africa and Congo.

But key export challenges remain, said Hardwick. “While becoming a net exporter of lamb is a significant milestone for the industry in the UK, exports remain largely limited to trade within the EU. Non-EU exports for the period represented 5% to 6% of the total.”

Hardwick said important target markets were: China, North Africa, South Africa, Russia, the USA and several Middle East markets. “Population growth and growing affluence is presenting new opportunities for exports in developing markets in particular but these simply cannot be exploited without market access,” he added.