Post-Brexit sales of British farm products to EU drop 37%, farmers’ union says

Sales of British farm products to the European Union have plummeted by nearly 40 per cent since Britain left the EU, according to the leading farmers’ union.

Analysis of HMRC data carried out by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) shows sales of products, from cheddar cheese to meat, have dropped substantially since the UK left the EU in 2020.

The poultry sector has suffered the biggest losses with exports down 37.7 per cent, followed by beef exports, which are down by 23.6 per cent, lamb by 14 per cent and dairy by 15.6 per cent, The Guardian reported.

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NFU president Tom Bradshaw said while the drop couldn’t be attributed exclusively to Brexit, it demonstrated the challenges faced by British farmers over the last five years.

He added that even if trading barriers were removed, it would not immediately reverse the damage done by Brexit.

“Simply reducing friction doesn’t mean we are going to get the EU market back again,” he said. “There aren’t empty spaces on the shelves with a label saying ‘waiting for British products’.

“Rebuilding demand will take time, effort and real focus.”

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His warning comes after reports that the EU and UK are expecting to hold fortnightly calls over farming negotiations ahead of the next leaders’ summit.

In December, a government review found the farming sector is “bewildered and frightened” after facing significant challenges after Brexit and over inheritance tax changes, the latter of which have since been dropped.

The farm profitability report by former NFU president Baroness Minette Batters said uncertainty surrounding the closure of applications to the sustainable farming incentive scheme – the main post-Brexit agricultural payments – and proposed changes to inheritance tax had created “significant” ongoing concern, with some farmers questioning viability, let alone profitability.

Baroness Batters, a tenant farmer in Wiltshire and the first female president of the NFU, said farming remained a vital part of the UK economy and food system, but it had faced significant instability over the past nine years, from global market shocks to Brexit, rising costs and extreme weather.

“Farmers don’t want handouts from the state; they want nothing more than to run thriving, profitable farming businesses by earning a fair return for what they produce,” she said.