A Northern Irish bakery is to begin exporting bread to Abu Dhabi, after signing a deal with UAE-based retailer LuLu Group.

Irwin’s Bakery will supply its Rankin Selection range of traditional Irish breads, including soda farls, potato farls, stone-ground wheaten, to LuLu Group in Abu Dhabi, one of the biggest retailers in the Gulf states.

The deal, said to be worth an initial six figure amount, was assisted by Invest Northern Ireland.

"It's a market that we've been targeting for some time and is the result of ongoing discussion over the past 18 months, which followed meetings with LuLu in Northern Ireland arranged by Invest NI," Irwin's business development manager Brendan Lappin said.

The Rankin Selection range will be on sale in an initial eight LuLu supermarkets within 24 hours of leaving the bakery in Portadown.