A company that began selling sea salt from the Lizard Peninsula has received royal recognition after growing its trade by more than 550 per cent.

Cornish Sea Salt has seen its fortunes grow from humble beginnings at Porthkerris near St Keverne, where production is still carried out on the edge of the Manacles, to now being presented with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in international trade.

The award is only given to British businesses who excel at one of four categories and applicants must demonstrate an outstanding three-year record with no "dips" or "slumps" in export figures.

Having been founded in 2007, the company realised in 2012 that global interest in the product was potentially limitless and began to look beyond the UK, employing two export sales managers to develop new markets. It now exports to 33 different countries.

It is one of the highest selling salt products in some of the top supermarkets in Scandinavia and Sweden, with other export hubs including the United Emirates and the Gulf, Asia and Australia, with China now in its sights.

Cornish Sea Salt is part of Provenance Brands, which also includes the Great British Crisp Company and Living Sea Therapy, a marine skin care range that launched last year.

Chairman Mark Sullivan said: "It is a testament to our sales director Suzanne Skerry and her internal export team’s highly strategic growth campaign, which has seen overseas sales grow by 552 per cent in the last three years.

"Export sales only began in 2012 and the proportion of sales now contribute to 30 per cent of turnover."