Germany sells Britain €620 million worth of grain, €370 million of baked goods and €35 million of beer each year

Germany’s farming lobby has urged the European Union to strike a soft trade deal with Britain to stave off losses that could run to billions of euros in the event of a hard Brexit.

The UK is one of the German agricultural industry’s most lucrative customers, importing €4.5 billion of goods a year while sending only €1.3 billion in the other direction. No other country furnishes Germany with such a big surplus in food and drink.

The German Farmers’ Association (DBV) is worried that its profits could be deeply harmed by the tariffs, customs checks and regulatory niggles that could spring up between the two states if talks break down this year.

It fears that its agri-food trade balance with the UK could halve if