The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Post-brexit worry for food exporters
As Brexit gets off to a bad start for food e xpor ters, James Withers of Scotland Food and Drink says emergency financial aid may be needed.
The industry body’s chief executive says Scottish food exporters are paying the price of a “ludicrous” decision by the UK Government to waive checks on imports coming into Britain from Europe but not ask the same of the EU.
After a first week since the Brexit transition period ended that has seen significant delays for some seafood exporters in particular, Mr Withers says it has been “a huge struggle”, adding that while companies have been quick to adapt, the lack of preparation during the transition period has cost the industry, and many others, millions of pounds.
With the UK Government releasing a 12,064- page document outlining the do’s and don’ts of Brexit on Hogmanay, Mr Withers says the problems are no surprise, given the lack of time to test systems.
He said: “The first week star ted quie t with no surprises, but the two reasons for that were, one, it was the holiday period and Hogmanay can be quite quiet anyway, and two, there were a lot of businesses being spooked by the French borders closing in the run-up to Christmas so a lot of companies tried to avoid trading over the first few days.
“We definitely got a false sense of security in those opening few days and since Monday last week trade volumes have been picking up and it has been starting to go wrong.”
On Sunday Mr Withers took to Twitter to report a worsening situation.
He posted: “More messages from food exporters who are finding the door to the EU is now shut. Haulage firms won’t take their loads; bureaucratic/it systems failing.
A multi- billion- pound
trade system is being tested for the 1st time, in real time. And it’s going wrong.
He added: “Brexit, week one was bad. Week two will be worse.
“UK G o v e r n m e n t ’s dismissal of the request from us (and most main business orgs) for a grace period was a critical mistake. By this time next week, pressure to revisit that will be even greater. Emergency financial aid may also be necessary.”
Fo r food and drink businesses, the struggle is very real, more so than initially envisioned.
One sector feeling particularly let down by the whole process is seafood, especially those operating in the shellfish division.
With tight turnarounds in place to ensure fresh produce lands in France within 24 hours, the chaos at the French borders over the festive period saw financial losses into the millions with produce having to be sent to landfill due to border closures
which were put in place as a result of a variant coronavirus strain spreading in the UK.
Mr W i t h e r s added: “Seafood exports are obviously much more time sensitive and need to be out of Scotland and in France within 24 hours. What would usually take maybe 12 to 24 hours are taking upwards of two or three days for sadly the reason we thought, which is that we had no time to test any systems.
“We are live testing on how to do business with new complex costly rules and regulations in place and that has been a massive, massive challenge.
“It has been a huge struggle. We said that the two reasons the transition period wasn’t a transition period was one, everyone was dealing with a global pandemic and have just been trying to get through the week let alone thinking about what actually is the big gest change in our biggest market. Also, the
fact that up until the last week before we entered into the transition period we didn’t have a deal.
“If you exported you didn’t know if you would be able to do business or not. Right up until the last few minutes of the transition period on Ho g m a n a y, guidance was still being issued around what the deal meant for businesses and the paperwork required.
“There are still gaps in the paperwork wh i c h companies are trying to work through.
“Despite the fact ludicrously the UK had agreed to waive checks on imports coming into the UK from Europe, they had not asked the European Commission for the same in return and we’re starting to pay the price for that – seafood companies e s p e c i a l l y, after the nightmare year they have had and the nightmare before Christmas with the closure of the French border.”