The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Buy local produce to save farmers and the planet
Sir, – The Scottish Farmer reports a reduction in Scottish produce on supermarket shelves, particularly beef and lamb. Scotch beef was 75% of its 2019 levels in June 2020, Scotch lamb was 63%.
Trade agreements are being struck to import lower-cost food into the UK, which destabilises food production in Scotland. Brazil, a huge producer of beef, is on the potential import list.
Large swathes of Amazon Rainforest are being destroyed while President Jair Bolsonaro turns a blind eye to global warming. These imports will also increase food miles.
Just recently Boris Johnson, referred to November’s COP26 Conference as critical in the fight to reduce global warming.
While vegetarians and vegans may not care as much about Scottish meat production, it should be remembered most farms are mixed and include cereal and vegetable production. The loss of one revenue stream affects the viability of the other.
The message is clear; buy locally produced food as often as you can. If you don’t use it you will lose it.
Alistair Ballantyne. Birkhill,
Angus.
As the price for purchasing and selling goods to the EU sky rockets, consumers and businesses across the country are now feeling the strain of a post-brexit UK.
No longer a member of the single market of the customs union, Brexit means customs taxes now apply to anyone selling or buying from EU countries.
Research from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICE) found that products are being slapped with an extra 12% customs charge when imported from the EU to the UK.
Some Scots have been reporting these issues with one business, which ships from Poland, seeing costs go from the usual €36 to an eye-watering €2,000.
One firm in Fife affected by the changes is whisky distillery Lindores Abbey Distillery, based in Newburgh.
The independent familyowned business has seen an extortionate increase in price to send its products to the EU, with one £40 bottle of whisky costing the firm £113 in duty charges, with an £18 price tag on postage, which the buyer has already had to pay.
Helen Mckenzie Smith, co-owner of the distillery, said: “We are having a real nightmare. We use Inxpress Fife and they handle all of our shipping in the UK and across the world.
‘‘Angus, the owner, has to pay the charges up front and then he charges us. You have to pay these charges up front or they won’t make it to the recipient. He got a bill in over the weekend for one bottle for £8,000 for Czech Republic - which is obviously a mistake - but he still has to pay the money before he can dispute it.
“We had one bottle come back at £113, and then another was £80 so we can’t even tell customers what it would be. The customer is already paying for the product and the shipping, and then it is the distillery who has to pay the duty charges. We’ve pretty much stopped delivering anywhere outwith the UK just now. France and Italy are just sending it back if it is alcohol.
“I think the worst part is the government put out this advertising about how easy it is to do. The amount of paperwork is enormous, especially for small businesses and they surely must have known delivery firms would charge more on processing orders. I know this is because we’re going through a hard Brexit, but I can’t believe there have been no contingency plans.
“Not forgetting the 25% VAT in getting anything to the States because of the Boeing problem. It is easier to ship products to China just now.”
Angus Mackenzie of Inxpress Fife, a parcel and delivery courier service based in St Andrews, has been having numerous issues in getting his customers’ products to their customers in the EU.
He said: “I work with loads of distilleries, and before Brexit, when we were shipping business to customer, they had huge client bases and things were going smoothly. Postbrexit it seems to be absolute chaos and no one seems to be doing the same thing to the next. One of my customers sent out delivery duty paid shipments which means the goods clear customers and then the taxes and shipping costs are sent back to the shipper. It was the same bottle and one came back at £28 and the other at £43 - there’s no rhyme nor reason.
“Everyone is interpreting things differently and a lot of bottles going to France are just being sent back as customs are refusing to try and even get it through. It is unbelievable. I think they are hoping by the end of July they will have a centralised agreement around VAT. I think the customs workers in Europe just don’t know what the rules are on alcohol. We’re trying to figure out what is going on but we can’t.
“Shipping to America just now is actually easier and cheaper. It is easier to get a bottle to California than it is to get it to France. The couriers have added on a Brexit surcharge, so what used to be £20 is now £35 at the minimum. Hopefully this will all smooth out but it is a shambles for alcohol.”
Also struggling to get his product to his EU customers is Adam Elanelmegirab of botanical bitters and gin firm, The House of Botanicals, in Aberdeen.
He has experienced huge delays on getting his product to the EU, and with air freight now up to 10 times more expensive than it was around two years ago, he said it is now just a “waiting game” to be able to get their product to their EU customers.