Beef farmers fear worst if Brexit talks end without a deal
OUR meat industry will face devastating consequences if a trade deal is not made before the Brexit deadline, a report has warned.
The report by Europe’s meat industry body, UECBV, shows that if a ‘no deal’ Brexit becomes a reality, the value of EU production will face a massive decrease, with Ireland’s meat industry set to be worst affected. We currently export more than half our meat to the UK, making it our largest market.
However, if a ‘no deal’ Brexit came to fruition, a World Trade Organisation tariff of 50% will be added to beef and other meat products exported to the UK.
The report warns that this will lead to at least 32,000 job losses across Europe, through both processing and distribution, as well as an 84% drop in beef exports from the EU27 to the UK. The market price will also see a sharp decline, with the value of EU pig meat production dropping by €2.3billion annually, and beef by €2.4billion.
Fianna Fáil spokesman on Brexit Stephen Donnelly told the Irish Daily Mail that failure to reach a deal could essentially ‘wipe out the UK market for Irish beef ’.
‘For the average beef farmer it will be catastrophic,’ he said. ‘It will mean a massive fall in income, they’ll lose their biggest market.’
The TD also added that the Government have done ‘next to nothing’ to domestically prepare for the impact of Brexit. ‘The Government is saying we’re working with farmers, we have a website, Bord Bia is working with farmers,’ he said. ‘But actually in terms of real substantial support to farmers, if you go and talk to farmers, talk to food producers and [ask] is the Government working with you to find you new markets as a matter of urgency, the answer is No. The Government is doing a really bad job in terms of supporting Irish enterprise, including agri-food, get ready for Brexit.’ And Angus Woods, National Livestock Chairman with the Irish Farmers Association, said the introduction of tariffs would be a major setback for agriculture in Ireland.
He remarked: ‘Agriculture is massive, and agricultural exports are critical to Ireland and also especially to rural Ireland. So we need to make sure that the trading relationship with the UK is maintained post Brexit, and that the UK market remains a strong and viable market to actually trade into.’
Mr Woods added that a hard Brexit will mean that Irish farmers will have to source markets elsewhere, more than likely in continental Europe.
‘We can only consume 10% of what we produce within Ireland, so the export would happen somewhere else, we would have to find another market,’ he said. ‘While a lot of work has been done in terms of sourcing new markets for Irish beef, all those markets are still only in their infancy and they just can’t take the volume of beef just straight off like that at the kind of price which we get out of the UK market.’
The report also highlights that the impact of a hard Brexit would be much greater than the crisis created by the Russian food import ban in 2014, and it would be more difficult to find alternative markets for products.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed did not respond to requests for comment at the time of going to print.
Tariff of 50% added to beef