The EU trade of UK food and drink products continues to face disruption following the end of the Brexit Transition Period.
A signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the UK and EU and the avoidance of tariffs of up to 50% on some agricultural products as a result was welcomed, although teething problems were still to be expected in regard to border bureaucracy and additional checks.
However, it seems that lorries full of consignments worth tens of thousands of pounds are still being turned away at ports due to single errors amongst boxes of paperwork and variations in the attention to detail of Export Health Certificates (EHCs), to name just some examples, continue to be reported during meetings with UK Stakeholders.
It is particularly concerning that many of these teething problems are now becoming long term issues that need to be addressed, despite the fact that export trade levels are anywhere between 20 and 50% of normal levels and that live animal exports are practically non-existent due to the lack of custom posts on the continent.
As additional checks at borders were imposed on exports into the EU on 1st January 2021, the EU entered a six month grace period for products entering the UK. Therefore, it seems unlikely that the tedious process of completing EHCs will be made easier, faster or, even better, electronic until the EU recognises how unfit for purpose the current system is in four months time.
There is clearly the risk that EU importers of Welsh produce will look for alternative suppliers within the EU or elsewhere due to the disruption associated with imports from the UK, given that MP’s were recently told that it is currently easier for the EU to import lamb from New Zealand than from the UK. Hybu Cig Cymru - Meat Promotion Wales and the Food Standards Agency believe that the markets and demand will remain, therefore minimising delays should be seen as a priority.
The response to MP Ben Lake’s question asking “whether he [Secretary of State for Wales] expects an urgent resolution to this problem?” in regard to delays with EHCs was that “...it is also worth pointing out that there are some big opportunities across the rest of the World which we should be exploring rather than necessarily just concentrating on some of the difficulties with the EU” but clearly we must also protect the long established market that is on our doorstep.