/View.info/ UK food exports to the European Union fell by 75.5% in January compared to December 2020, reports The Guardian. The country’s Federation of Food and Drink Manufacturers attributed the sharp drop in exports to Brexit, as well as restaurant and hotel closures across Europe.
Brexit and the pandemic have contributed to the collapse of British food exports, with whiskey, cheese and chocolate producers suffering the biggest losses, The Guardian reports, citing HMRC.
Analysis of data from the Federation of the Food Industry showed that cheese exports in January fell from 45 million to 7 million pounds year-on-year. Whiskey exports fell from £105m to £40m and chocolate exports fell from £41.4m to just £13m or 68%.
At the same time, the export of a number of other food products has been almost completely stopped. In particular, exports of salmon and beef fell by 98% and 92% respectively. In terms of total value, however, salmon and beef producers are ranked fourth and seventh respectively in the top ten producers with the biggest post-Brexit export losses.
Overall, UK food and drink exports to the European Union fell by 75.5% in January. And according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, overall export volumes in January fell by 40.7% compared to December 2020. This is the biggest monthly drop in UK trade in over 20 years.
Naturally, the drop in product demand due to the closure of European restaurants and hotels during the pandemic also played its part. But most of the drop, according to the Federation of Food and Drink Manufacturers, is due to the emergence of trade barriers after the release United Kingdom from the EU.
This state of affairs alarmed the House of Lords of the British Parliament. “Increasing the amount of paperwork and preparatory procedures that are required to export food and agricultural products to the EU is a very difficult task, especially for small businesses“, – the Guardian quoted the words of Lord Robin Teverson, chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Environment.
The sub-committee believes that UK exporters suffered the biggest losses in trade with Ireland, which was the UK’s biggest export market in January 2020. It accounted for around 18% of total food and drink exports, but the figure fell during the year only up to 5%. Exports to Germany and Italy fell by 85% and 81% respectively.
At the same time, as The Guardian notes, the Department for Environment, Food and Agriculture is urging the data to be treated with caution. It is explained that “the unique combination” of food stocks in the UK last year, the need to limit the spread of the coronavirus and the adaptation of businesses to the new trade relationship with the EU “made inevitable” falls on exports in January this year.
Translation: ES
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