Celebrating the First Anniversary of UK's Accession to CPTPP
Local business enjoys sweet success in Japan following UK’s access to major trading bloc.
- Worcestershire’s queen of puddings, Nana Lily’s, expands to Japan
- Growth into the Asian market thanks to the UK’s free trade agreements with Japan
- Foreign Office Minister celebrates Nana Lily’s success on a pre-Christmas visit to Tokyo
Japanese dessert fans will be enjoying Worcestershire’s finest puddings this Christmas after much-loved baker Nana Lily’s expands to Japan.
Nana Lily’s, a family run business based in Worcester, first began selling their delicious Christmas puddings in 2016. This winter, families in Japan will also be able to enjoy the company’s home-made desserts thanks to support from the UK connecting the business with a local distributor.
Nana Lily’s is just one of the thousands of UK firms that are benefitting from the two Free Trade Agreements (FTA) the UK has with Japan, which are lowering the tariffs British companies facing when exporting.
This includes the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trading bloc the UK joined one year ago with the potential to boost the UK economy by £2 billion a year.
Foreign Office Minister, Seema Malhotra, is in Japan this week to meet her counterparts and discuss further opportunities for British businesses in the region.
Foreign Office Minister, Seema Malhotra, said:
Nana Lily’s have perfected their recipes over four generations of pudding making and I’m delighted Japanese consumers are getting the chance to try them.
Supporting fantastic British businesses like Nana Lily’s to access new markets abroad is a key part of the government’s work overseas to drive economic growth in the UK.
This free trade is creating huge opportunities for businesses to expand and grow, supporting British business overseas is critical for our growth as a country.
Nana Lily’s award-winning Christmas puddings have long been a hit with local residents. Inspired by a four-generation recipe, the business has even taken orders from the Royal Family and the White House. In 2024, the company sold 3,000 puddings in the run-up to Christmas, with orders set to rise to 5,000 this year.
Following success at home, the business is now expanding overseas. In 2022, its co-founder Ellen Halpin-Barnett was introduced to the Doitsu Centre, a Japanese retailer, at a UK Government trade event at the Tower of London. After securing a deal with the distributor, the Government supported Nana Lily’s expansion into the country by helping the firm to navigate Japan’s complex customs regulations. This included supporting Nana Lily’s with translation services.
Since hitting the shelves in Japan, Nana Lily’s Christmas puddings have been a huge hit with sales rising year-on-year. More broadly, Nana Lily’s international footprint continues to expand, with further orders secured in Germany and the US.
Founder of Nana Lily’s, Ellen Halpin-Barnett, said:
We’re thrilled that families across Japan will be enjoying Nana Lily’s Christmas puddings this year. Japan represents an exciting and rapidly growing market for us, and we’re committed to building on this success. Looking ahead, we see tremendous opportunities to expand our range including with our popular Christmas puddings and fruit cakes.
Last year, the UK joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trade agreement between 12 countries which is providing further certainty for UK businesses looking to expand to Japan.
The UK’s accession to the group follows the signing of the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which entered in force in 2021. Because of these deals, Nana Lily’s can export their puddings tariff-free, removing a tariff of up to 25%.
The UK’s relationship with Japan has continued to flourish this year. In March 2025, the UK and Japan held an Economic 2+2 dialogue – a meeting between both countries’ Foreign and Business Ministers. The UK is the first country that Japan has held such a dialogue with outside of the US, highlighting the close partnership that the two countries share.
The UK’s total bilateral trade with Japan is now worth over £33 billion. Japanese investment into the UK has also doubled over the last decade, with nearly 1,000 Japanese companies sustaining around 200,000 UK jobs. UK exports to Japan also grew between 2024 to 2025 by nearly 9% to £16 billion.
Notes to Editors
If your business wants to sell to new customers overseas, but find you’re being blocked by the rules and regulations where they are, the UK Government has exports experts who want to help. Let us know via www.business.gov.uk/report-trade-barrier