Food and beverage exports to the EU experienced a “catastrophic” decline in the first half of this year due to Brexit Trade barriers, beef and cheese sales have been hit hardest.
Food and Beverage Federation (FDF) producers lost £2 billion in sales, Decrease in income This cannot be compensated by increased sales to non-EU countries such as China and Australia during the same period.
Dominic Goudi, FDF’s head of international trade, said: “The return to growth in exports to non-EU markets is good news, but this does not make up for the catastrophic loss of £2 billion in EU sales. It clearly shows. The serious difficulties that manufacturers in our industry continue to face and the urgent need for additional expert support.”
He said the difficulties faced by British food and beverage manufacturers and farmers are exacerbated by shortages of truck drivers and warehouse workers, which hinder the supply chain.
“At the same time, we are seeing labor shortages in the food and beverage supply chain from farm to table in the UK, leading to empty shelves, delivery interruptions and production declines in UK stores,” Goody said. “Unless measures are taken to solve these problems, the ability of companies to fulfill important export orders will be affected.”
By product category, the largest decline in sales to the EU was in dairy products and meat: compared with the six months of the same period last year, beef exports in the first half of 2021 fell by 37%, cheese fell by 34%, and milk and cream fell by 19%. 2019.
Exports to almost all EU member states have fallen sharply. Sales to Ireland have lost more than 500 million pounds, while sales to Germany, Spain and Italy have all fallen by about half since the first half of 2019.
However, exports of Scotland’s two flagship products, salmon and whiskey, increased by 27% and 20% year-on-year.
Exporters have been struggling with the additional paperwork and administrative fees that will take effect on January 1, 2021, and companies need to record their products according to trade standards, customs and health reasons before entering the EU.
Since the UK does not require physical sanitation and phytosanitary (SPS) inspections before Brexit, food exporters are particularly vulnerable. Without any paperwork, trucks will face partial or full unloading at Calais and other ports.
Industry leaders stated that the forecast that some companies will only transfer their export production operations to EU countries is being realized.
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John Whitehead, director of the Food and Beverage Exporters Association, said: “There is increasing evidence that the complexity of trade with the EU has led companies to move their business to Europe As well as importers looking for alternative suppliers, leading to continued decline in UK exports and employment opportunities in the UK. ”
The FDF stated that by 2022, when Dover and other ports conduct comprehensive SPS inspections on imports for the first time, imports of food and beverages and ingredients may further “deteriorate.”
Although the EU has implemented a full set of documents, customs and SPS Brexit inspections from January 1st, the UK has decided to implement them in phases: the new tax inspection will be launched on October 1st, and the food health inspection plan will start on January 1st .
FDF stated that imports have been hit and animal-derived products have been severely affected. Pork imports fell 19.6%, cheese imports fell 17.6%, and chicken imports fell 17.9%.
