A BAKER is planning ahead for Christmas - by shipping two tonnes of mince pies off to Hong Kong.

Foster's Bakery in Mapplewell might be booming in Barnsley but now it is branching out into the Oriental market too.

And to make sure the frozen pies get to the southern China coast in time, they embarked on their two-month long sea journey last weekend.

MD John Foster said: "It's our first big shipment to Hong Kong and we are very excited about this new market. Hopefully this could lead to many more orders from that part of the world."

Two tons may seem a lot, but as John points out, as the Christmas season gets underway, Foster's will be baking half a million mince pies to sell.

And Hong Kong is not the only market for the bakery's produce. It has recently exported bread to Sweden, Denmark and even Lebanon.