Red meat sector facing ‘plunge into uncertainty’
The whole of S cotland’s farming and meat processing chain will be plunged into a period of great uncertainty without immediate action on issues which are totally “within the gift of UK ministers” it was claimed yesterday.
The growing exasperation at the UK government over the lack of clarity on the practical and technical aspects of how Scottish companies will be able to continue trading with customers in the EU – regardless of the outcome of the fraught trade talks – found voice yesterday through the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW).
Warning the Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, that the red meat sector was moving headlong towards“sub stanti al market turbulence” during the UK’S exit from the European Union, the organisation’s president, Andy Mcgowan said: “If left unresolved, this lack of action could cause untold and long-lasting damage to the livestock supply chain throughout the UK, and especially here in Scotland where livestock farming is central to the viability of rural communities.”
Mcgowan said that, with Scotland’s red meat trade with Europe worth an estimated £85 million a year, 3,000 jobs within the Scottish red meat processing sector would be put in jeopardy along with thousands more in the primary livestock farming sector.
“We therefore believe that it is crucial that all current red meat exp or t activity to the EU market is maintained ,” he said. “This will provide viability for the UK red meat sector, and primary livestock producers, during what is already a period of great uncertainty which could, if not carefully managed by the UK Government, lead to substantial market turbulence.”
In a letter to Jack and other Scots Tory MP’S, SAMW also pointed out that there was a significant amount of intra-company trade between processing plants in Scotland and Northern Ireland – and the lack of clarity on this issue was another major concern.
Mcgowan said similar requests had been made to George Eustice, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, some weeks ago by the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) in England and Wales – but he added that the request was still “regrettably” awaiting a reply.
SAMW’S list of “practical requests” included clarification of the precise format of the necessary health mark to allow companies to finalise the purchase of label ling and packaging materials, which had long lead-in times. and confirmation that the UK’S chief veterinary offices had communicated the changes to the UK’S internal cer tifi - cation and health mark arrangements and had them accepted by third countries.
The organisation also called fora work able “groupage” scheme which would facilitate the export of mixed loads, for a guarantee that sufficient veterinary and other resources would be available to certify goods in time and that access to health certification documentation would be “largely automated, business friendly and at low cost”.
The letter also stated that the current framework, as proposed by Defra, to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol, needed to be “urgently revised” to remove existing anomalies and grey areas of interpretation which could give processors in Northern Irland a commercial advantage over their counterparts in Great Britain.