OVERSEAS trade specialists are being brought in to help potential trade difficulties in the wake of Brexit at an internationally trading food company looking to safeguard its 120 jobs in Yorkshire.

Pecan Delux Candy, which has its UK headquarters in Sherburn in Elmet, exports more than 75 per cent of its bespoke cakes, biscuits, sauces and desserts to the EU.

In a bid to continue to prosper in Europe post Brexit, the company has hired overseas trade specialist, Chamber International, to help it improve its exporting efficiency and enhance its marketing within the EU.

Pecan Deluxe Candy, a family business that exports to continental Europe, the Middle East and Africa from Sherburn-in-Elmet, says it is already having to work harder to combat challenges posed by the fall in the value of the pound as the company imports 90 per cent of raw materials used in its products.

Pecan Deluxe European and Asia Pacific managing director, Graham Kingston, said: “We are a big company trading successfully within the EU and we are determined to ensure that this remains the case.

“We want to adapt as smoothly as possible to any changes and challenges in trading circumstances which arise from the UK’s impending departure from the EU.

“But we have to be realistic about the challenges and prepare now. All our main competitors are on the continent and we need to avoid the perception that leaving the UK leads to us being perceived as ‘an outsider’ although we have traded in Europe for decades.

“We also want to ensure that we can continue to recruit people with the right skills if any eventual deal about the UK leaving the EU reduces worker migration.

“For these reasons we have engaged Chamber International to help ensure we are on our front foot and fully prepared in two years’ time.

Pecan Deluxe Candy, which supplies food and beverage companies, quick-service restaurants and bakeries across the EU, was founded as a retail ice cream business in Dallas, Texas, by the first generation of the family, J C Brigham, in 1950.

The business was sold in 1983 so the company could concentrate on manufacturing and supplying the ice cream inclusions, such as praline nuts and sauces. The US operation now has a turnover of $115 million.

The company was established in the UK in 1999 and, in conjunction with its sister facility in Thailand, now supplies all of Europe, the Middle and Far East and Australia-Pacific regions.