Economy

$1.6b UK-China deals to boost UK farm exports

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-06-27 10:59

LONDON - Britain and China are expected to announce business deals worth a billion pounds ($1.60 billion) on Monday, including the reopening of British poultry exports to China and increased pork exports, Britain said.

The deals will be announced following talks in London on Monday between British Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who is in the middle of a European tour taking in Hungary, Britain and Germany.

As Greece teeters on the brink of default, Beijing is seeking to safeguard its vast holdings of euro-denominated assets and to preserve trade growth with the European Union, its largest trading partner.

Deals worth more than one billion pounds are set to be announced after Monday's talks between Cameron and Wen, Cameron's office said.

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It gave no details but a government source said agreements could be reached in the energy, retail and design sectors.

The two sides are expected to announce the reopening of the Chinese market for British poultry exports, potentially worth 10 million pounds a year, British officials said. China banned poultry products from Britain following an outbreak of bird flu at a farm in eastern England in 2007.

Britain and China will also announce an expansion of trade in pork products, following agreements last November to export British breeding pigs and British pig meat to China.

A further deal to supply 800 breeding pigs will be signed. Five more British farms will be approved to export pig meat to China in a deal worth more than 25 million pounds, Britain said.

Wen's visit is the latest of several recent high-level diplomatic exchanges between Britain and China, including a visit to China by Cameron last November.

Britain wants to double trade with China by 2015 to some $100 billion, in line with the British government's strategy of expanding business with fast-growing emerging markets to help offset subdued domestic demand at a time of sharp spending cuts.