Hard Brexit to hit Irish meat exporters most

IRELAND and Denmark are the most exposed of all EU meat exporters to a hard Brexit, a new report has found.

A hard Brexit — where the UK has to comply with World Trade Organisation tariffs — would see an 84pc drop in beef exports to the UK (from the remaining 27 EU countries) and 32,000 job losses, the report says.

That excess beef would translate to lower prices on the EU market, while producers would face the added cost of WTO tariffs and veterinary and customs checks.

According to the report, commissioned by the European Livestock and Meat Trades Union (UECBV), EU beef producers would face annual losses of €2.4bn, while pork producers will be down €2.3bn a year.

Ireland makes up 56pc of all meat exports inside the 28-member EU, more than twice as much as Denmark (25pc). Ireland is also the bloc’s largest supplier of beef to the UK.

The report says Irish exporters would face full customs controls and veterinary checks, and that continuing to use the UK as a ‘land bridge’ for two-way trade between Ireland and the rest of the EU would double non-tariff barriers for exporters.

Meanwhile, a separate report for the European Parliament says that post-Brexit “cheap food” policy in the UK would devastate the all-island economy and create a physical border in Ireland.

“It seems very likely that the UK will adopt a policy of importing cheap food from low-cost countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina,” the report says.

“If this occurred, it would be necessary to restrict imports of agricultural products from Northern Ireland into the Republic,” the report says.

“If the UK at any time in the future adopts a cheap food policy or lowers its food safety standards, a physical border will be essential,” the report says.

The study, penned by Trinity College Dublin law professor John Temple Lang, suggests using the existing north-south ministerial council as a new regulatory body for all-island trade after Brexit.

A Brexit deal on the border hinges on the UK commitment to mirroring EU rules post-Brexit, but London has indicated it is unwilling to do so.

EU and UK negotiators are working furiously to come up with a form of words that will satisfy Dublin by an EU-imposed deadline of December 4, to allow a leaders’ summit in mid-December to sign off on the deal.

A third report, prepared for the European Parliament by academics in Queens’ University Belfast, says that it should be possible for Northern Ireland to maintain “elements of the status quo” after Brexit, given the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.