Independent retailers and importers are hoping for easier trading conditions following the Government’s latest negotiations update to strike a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU.
Defra issued advice on 1st June urging businesses to prepare for changes expected to take effect in mid-2027, intended to reduce some of the post Brexit friction affecting the movement of food, animals and plants between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the EU.
The new rules will scrap routine SPS border checks for most eligible goods entering the UK from the EU, or Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
For the food & drink sector, this could mean easier transit of spoilageprone products, and allow for smaller consignments to travel.
However, the agreement is neither a return to the customs union nor the single market, meaning customs declarations will remain necessary, and UK businesses will need to follow relevant EU rules, even if they don’t trade with the EU.
Francisco Pombal, buying manager at Spanish importer, wholesaler, retailer and restaurant business Brindisa, told FFD that trade barriers imposed as a result of Brexit have added “layers of unnecessary complexity” for the business.
“We went from buying foods in Spain like we could in Manchester to basically entering international trade,” he said.
Calculating the costs of customs clearance fees and other requirements at around 1.5% of purchase costs, he said the impact on the business was in the hundreds of thousands of pounds a year,“that we obviously had to pass on to the consumer”.
Though it hasn’t dropped any of its suppliers, Pombal sees the biggest impact of Brexit as reducing the choice and variety available in the UK, affecting small producers but also fellow wholesalers, some of which went under because they couldn’t shoulder the burden.
He said there is some good to come from easing trade, but that the agreement is unlikely to go far enough, with customs controls remaining in place, particularly burdensome for fishery products.
He added: “We need some clarity, because our understanding is that the veterinary standards will be mutually recognised, so health certificates won’t be necessary. But we still have to clear customs, that fee is not going to disappear. It is needless. It doesn’t add any value. It only carries costs.”
Given wider price pressures affecting food prices, Pombal said the deal would help, but not necessarily reverse inflation.
“You won’t see prices going down immediately because some of the increases have been absorbed by the industry,” he said.“But the pressures pulling prices up will ease.”
Even Johnny McDowell of Indie Füde in Belfast has had to adapt, despite being largely shielded from disruption because it focuses on food & drinkfrom the island of Ireland.
McDowell said he has witnessed fellow retailers hit hard by the additional checks, “particularly those that bring in GB cheeses and other such items”.
“It’s been a little boggling for people with the Windsor Framework and its implications,” he said, as it has meant extra checks, labels and paperwork for some goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The retailer is unsure whether changes affecting farmers and producers will have a knock-on effect on prices, noting that retailers often don’t hear about pressures absorbed by suppliers, but do see higher prices and supply issues. “So we’ll wait and see.”
Though Indie Füde only trades locally, McDowell said extending the amount of high-standard, quality food available in the UK can only be a good thing.
“We’ve seen the food chain weakened by cheap imports over the years,” he said. “If this can help us strengthen our own food chain, that would be great.”
This article first appeared in the June-July issue of Fine Food Digest.
