In numbers: Morrisons' British Food report

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Morrisons has launched a provenance push to source more produce from the UK following the unveiling of its British Food report.

Morrisons infographc

The publication, which was commissioned by the supermarket giant and led by Professor Tim Benton from the University of Leeds, lifts the lid on the UK’s reliance on imported produce.

It suggests that British businesses should leverage domestic producers more in order to counteract the impacts of climate change, global political uncertainty and potential trade wars on their supply chains.

As Morrisons launches a campaign to find 200 new suppliers within the next year, Retail Week pulls out the key statistics from the report, titled ‘British Food: What role should UK producers have in feeding the UK?’.

£201bn

The amount we spent on food in the UK last year, £88bn of which was gobbled up by catering services, including pubs and restaurants.

£18bn

The value of food and agricultural produce exported from the UK every year.

£39bn

The value of food and agricultural produce imported to the UK every year.

61%

The UK’s self-sufficiency rate if all of the food we exported was consumed here.

52%

Supplied by UK farmers, around half of the food we ate in 2015.

80%

The proportion of eggs, meat and dairy that we eat that comes from the UK.

23%

By contrast, less than a quarter of the fruit and vegetables we eat come from the UK.

£9.1bn

The value of the fruit and vegetables the UK imports every year, compared to just £1bn-worth exported.

939,000

The tonnage of poultry imported into the UK in 2015.

168

The number of countries that supplied the UK with food in 2011 – some 86% of all nations across the globe.

90%

However, the vast majority of the food exported to the UK comes from just 24 countries. The Netherlands (5.9%), Spain (5.1%) and France (3.3%) contribute most to our food supply.

67%

Despite having so many supply partners across the globe, two-thirds of UK consumers would prefer to buy British, according to a survey by Omnibus conducted last month.