Whisky, cheese and chocolate producers have suffered the biggest post-Brexit export losses in the food and drink sector, new figures from HMRC have shown.

Analysis of the figures by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) shows that cheese exports in January plummeted from £45m to £7m year on year, while whisky exports nosedived from £105m to £40m. Chocolate exports went from £41.4m to just £13m, a decline of 68%.

They put the collapse in trade down to a combination of Brexit and weaker demand in Europe, where restaurants, hotels and other hospitality outlets remain closed.

Exports of some other goods such as salmon and beef almost stopped altogether, with declines of 98% and 92% respectively, but by value they were the 7th and 4th biggest losers of the top 10 exports to the EU.

Overall, trade in fish, thanks partly to a complete ban on the exports of certain live shellfish, dropped by 79%.

The figures come hot on the heels of data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing trade between the UK and EU had been hit hard in January, with overall exports down by 40.7% in January compared to December.

It comes as the House of Lords EU environment subcommittee expressed deep concern over the disruption to trade caused by Brexit. “We’re dismayed that our agri-food sector is facing such high trade frictions, “ said Lord Teverson, the subcommittee chair, in a new report due to be published on Tuesday.

An ambitious new action plan to grow exports and bring a £2.9 billion boost to the UK economy has been launched today by Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom at the world’s largest food trade fair in Paris.

The new International Action Plan for Food and Drink will see Government and industry working together to boost food and drink exports over the next five years.

The plan, launched today at SIAL, the world’s leading food and drink trade fair, identifies nine markets across 18 countries with the best potential for growth. It sets out new ways to tap into these markets, including targeting:

• An extra £185 million in exports to Japan through demand for classic British products like tea, jam and biscuits and new opportunities for British beef
• An additional £293 million of exports to Australia and New Zealand, where there’s a growing thirst for our beer and cider

A £215 million export boost in Mexico and Latin America through growing demand for a wide range of British products including our whisky and gin