Longer deadline does little to dispel concerns in sheep sector

Despite the new Brexit deadline of 31 October, the Scottish sheep sector yesterday voiced its continuing concerns about the economic impact of leaving Europe without a deal.

Following a meeting between industry stakeholders and the Scottish Government to discuss mitigation measures should this eventuality arise, there was agreement that emergency measures would be needed to support the sector in the event of a ‘No Deal’.

“However, we still need to work on the details on how best to deliver the necessary support to protect farm incomes in order to secure the jobs and opportunities which the sector provides in our rural communities,” said NFU Scotland president, Andrew Mccornick.

Pointing out that the UK was the third largest sheep meat exporter in the world – and supplied more than 80,000 tonnes to the European Union each year – he said that the imposition of a 48 per cent tariff on exports would cost the industry more than €150 million per annum even if exports were to be maintained.

However, if as was likely, the tariffs made exporting less viable, the knock-on effects in the home market would be even more devastating, with the entire sheep market likely to experience significant disruption which would impact on other agricultural sectors. However the union said that while there would be a desperate need for short term measures to support the industry under such a scenario, the sheep sector was not alone:

“The Union believes that, given the uncertainty that Brexit is generating, that all sectors should be included in similar discussions on emergency plans and mitigation.