Exports of food and beverages from the UK to the European Union for 2021 fell by two billion pounds of sterling (2.8 billion dollars). As Independent writes, catastrophic losses had to be incurred because of the Brexit and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Federation of Food and Drink Food Producers (Food And Drink Federation) found out that the export of goods to Germany, Italy and Spain decreased by a third over the past year. Imports from the EU also declined – in the UK received 11.2 percent less products, among which pork, cheese and chicken. To fill the shortage of European food, the UK will have to rely on deliveries from China, Singapore, Australia and Japan.
Food industry representatives believe that bilateral trade with the EU will not be improped in the near future due to the introduction of rigid border control in the UK. But can be stabilized with other markets – in the first half of 2021, exports outside the EU increased by 13 percent compared to the same period of the 2020. Sales in China, for example, brought the United Kingdom to 100 million pounds of sterling (138.3 million dollars) more, and the presence of its goods in the Colombia and Mexico markets increased by 142.6 and 111.2 percent, respectively.
“The growth of exports to distant markets, of course, will help the UK, but will not be able to compensate for catastrophic losses from disruption of deliveries to the EU,” Dominica Gouda believes from the Federation of food and beverage manufacturers.
Among other factors that have undermined the sphere of food of Great Britain, Gouda called the lack of labor – both on farms and manufacturing enterprises and in transport companies that deliver goods. Personal deficit is also associated with Brexit – before it these places were occupied mainly by migrants.
The Government of the United Kingdom says that it is too early to draw conclusions about the long-term consequences of trade relations with Europe – they influenced not only the yield of Britain from the EU, but also a decrease in demand because of the coronavirus pandemic.