HAMBURG (Reuters) - Negotiations on Britain’s exit from the European Union should include providing continued access for German farmers to the British food market, where they enjoy a healthy trade surplus, the head of Germany’s farm association DBV said on Thursday.

Germany exported about 4.8 billion euros (4.16 billion pounds) of food and farm products to Britain in 2015, giving Germany a 3.4 billion euro food trade surplus with Britain, he told an event at the Green Week food trade fair in Berlin.

Sales include German meat, milk, grains, fruit and vegetables.

“An open market with the United Kingdom for us should have a high priority in the Brexit negotiations,” DBV president Joachim Rukwied said.

“The United Kingdom is an important market for the German farming industry.”

The 3.4 billion euro surplus alone was more than Germany’s entire food exports to the United States, he said.

Rukwied said last week German farmers were greatly concerned about a potential huge gap in EU funding when net EU budget contributor Britain leaves.