A CHELSTON-BASED company is celebrating record sales of its cheeses in the United States.

Somerdale International’s sales of British cheese across the Atlantic are on course to reach £19 million for the year to the end of March 2020 – up 17 per cent year on year.

Sales figures were boosted by a strong performance over the festive holiday fourth quarter period as US consumers continued to celebrate with British cheese.

Somerdale is preparing to showcase its comprehensive range of best-selling British cheeses at the Winter Fancy Food Show being held in San Francisco next week.

The firm’s sales now represent an estimated 25 per cent of all UK cheese exports to the United States with about a quarter being sold as part of the Somerdale family of brands.

Somerdale co-founder and director Alan Jenkins said: “The US is our most important international market and we are delighted to be seeing strong year on year growth as American consumers continue their love affair with British cheese.

“From Somerdale’s perspective, the Winter Fancy Food Show is a great opportunity to showcase our comprehensive range of high quality, branded and customer specific British cheeses.

“We look forward to meeting new and existing customers and sampling with them the very best of British cheese including aged cheddars, regional territorial cheeses, Blue Stilton – ‘the King of British Cheese’ and our growing range of blended cheeses such as the iconic Wensleydale and Cranberries.

“Of course these are currently turbulent times with tariffs, trade wars and political uncertainty giving rise to some short-term headwinds but Somerdale remains positive about the prospects for further growth in the US market.

“We remain fully committed to reinforcing our position as the leading supplier of British cheese to the US market as demonstrated by our ongoing investment in our dedicated US sales and support team and launch at Winter Fancy Food of our new ‘Westminster – Gold Hill Cheddar’.”

n Somerdale International is a leading UK exporter of British cheese and dairy products. Now in its 31st year of operation, the firm employs 28 staff and has global sales of £40 million.