EU checks on food to cost Britons $2bn

CONSUMERS will be forced to spend an extra £2bn on French cheese, Italian olive oil and other food items from the Continent when post-brexit border checks come into force at the end of this month, according to estimates from Allianz Trade.

The controls will impose costs equal to a 10pc tariff on the £21bn of products affected, said the research from Ana Boata, head of economic research at the financial services company.

Goods affected include cereals, meat, dairy products and oils, as well as trees, plants, flowers and bulbs, which amount to around 8pc of all UK imports from the European Union.

Heath certificates were introduced for these products earlier this year, confirming

‘The cost of imports from the EU is likely to rise as exporters will pass these on to their UK customers’

they are free of disease. However, officials will only start to check this paperwork at the end of the month.

The Allianz report said: “The cost of goods imported from the EU is likely to rise as exporters in the EU will pass on (at least part of ) these additional costs to their UK customers.”

However, the suspension of tariffs on a range of other goods from countries with which the UK has no trade deal will ultimately save households even more.

Under a separate measure, introduced today, the tax on imports of products including cars, fuels and gems from affected countries will fall, saving consumers an estimated £7bn. The report said that tariffs on cars will drop from 6.2pc to 0pc, with charges on some processed food products coming down from more than 10pc to 0pc.

It came as the World Trade Organisation predicted a rebound in global trade this year but warned geopolitical tensions and political uncertainty could derail the recovery.

Ralph Ossa, the WTO’S chief economist, said: “We are going to live in a more risky world.”