Co-op has warned that Britain’s food supply chains are becoming increasingly exposed to global disruption after new HMRC data showed UK meat imports rose to £5bn last year.
It said that meat imports climbed 15 per cent year on year in 2025, highlighting the growing reliance of UK shoppers and retailers on international sourcing at a time of mounting geopolitical and climate-related instability.
Poultry was the UK’s most imported protein category, worth almost £2bn, with Poland and the Netherlands accounting for the largest share of imports. However, poultry imports from Thailand rose by nearly 50 per cent year on year, pointing to the growing role of longer-distance supply routes in UK food retail.
Co-op said the figures underline the importance of strengthening domestic production and building more resilient retail supply chains. It also warned that overseas supply networks remain vulnerable to extreme weather, energy shocks, fertiliser disruption and geopolitical conflict, all of which can feed through into availability, logistics costs and shelf prices.
The warning comes as food policy experts raise concerns that the UK is not sufficiently prepared for shocks that could threaten food security.
Co-op is calling for greater government support for agricultural co-operatives, arguing that the model could help improve supply chain resilience, strengthen British farming and provide retailers with more stable sourcing partnerships.
It’s now backing Co-operative Party proposals designed to help farmers form, grow and scale co-operatives as part of the government’s upcoming 25-year farming roadmap.
The policy paper sets out plans for ministers to support agricultural co-operation across the food system, with a focus on improving market power, reducing costs and enabling collective investment in infrastructure, innovation and sustainability.
Co-op said expanding agricultural co-operatives could give farmers more bargaining power while helping retailers build more secure and transparent domestic supply networks.
Recent estimates suggest there are 526 agricultural co-operatives in the UK, generating more than £9bn in income.
Matt O’Hagan, technical director at ESG Drysdale, a co-operative business, said the model helped create closer alignment between farmers, land use and routes to market.
“Our East of Scotland Growers Cooperative dates back to 1987 and brings together 20 member growers across a wide geographical spread,” he said.
“Being grower owned creates genuine alignment between farmers, the land and the route to market. Working collaboratively over the long term, the cooperative model supports responsible land stewardship, investment in sustainable farming practices, and the ability to adapt to environmental and climate challenges.
“The structure gives farmers a real voice in how their produce is sold and valued, building trust, stability, and long-term confidence. That alignment allows us to plan effectively, maintain quality and manage the volatility that continues to challenge the wider sector.”
Co-op director of public affairs and campaigns Paul Gerrard said supply chain resilience had become a live issue for the retail industry. “The issue of supply chain resilience is upon us now and there is a clear and demonstrable benefit to the co-operative business model in agriculture,” he said.
“An expansion of agricultural co-operation is both an economic opportunity and a political imperative: it directly addresses the need for a more secure and sustainable food system, one less exposed to the volatility of global markets, and the instability in a rapidly changing world.
“As the largest consumer co-operative in the UK, we are clear how the model naturally lends itself to sharing costs and spreading risk, which will make the day-to-day fundamentals of farming more efficient.
“The untapped potential of agricultural co-operatives is an opportunity to strengthen our food system and deliver a better deal for British farming.”
Co-op Party leader Joe Fortune added: “Co-operation is a form of strategic resilience. In a world where fertiliser supplies can be disrupted and energy costs can spike overnight, the ability to coordinate, adapt and invest collectively becomes a matter of national strategic importance.
“Government has the opportunity to unleash growth in this sector and use it to help secure our supply chains for the future.”
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