New figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics and HM Revenue & Customs show that in January, British meat exports to the EU declined significantly. The UK’s departure from the EU has caused market disruptions due to the new customs regulations.
However, the agencies caution against drawing hasty conclusions, as the meat and food industry stocked up heavily at the end of last year in anticipation of transport delays and customs issues.
According to the Food & Drink Federation, the substantial drop in exports of meat, fish, and dairy nevertheless demonstrates that the new trade barriers have had a clear impact.
There is particularly a large decrease in exports from the United Kingdom to the EU of meat, fish, and dairy products. For example, exports of beef fell by 91.5%, pork by 86.9%, salmon by 98.0%, and cheese by 85.1%. Exports of shellfish and crustaceans also fell sharply (76%), partly due to a complete halt on imports of bivalve mollusks not sourced from waters of the highest quality.
Imports into the UK from the EU of beef declined by 37.2%, pork by 49.9%, chicken by 42.7%, and cheese by 30.5% compared to January 2020. According to the Food & Drink Federation, much of the decrease in food imports from the EU is related to the closure of the UK hospitality and food service sectors due to the coronavirus crisis.
British trade statistics show that imports of beef from Ireland into the United Kingdom especially dropped in January. The difficulties caused by Brexit are the cause of a 38% decline, compared with only a 16% decrease a year earlier.
The UK’s departure from the EU has severely disrupted the British beef market and inevitably also the main source of imports that depends on it the most, namely Ireland. Nearly half of all Irish beef production goes to the UK.
Regarding food trade between the UK and the Netherlands, exports (UK to NL) decreased by 64.8% while imports (NL to UK) declined by 34.9%. The large difference between these figures is probably because the British are gradually implementing the new customs requirements in their ports, while goods exported from the UK to the EU had to comply with all requirements immediately as of January 1.