UK food and drink exports to the EU almost halved in the first three months of 2021, compared to last year.

Food and Drink Federation (FDF) figures show that EU sales dropped by 47%, due to changes in the UK's trading relationship with the EU and the impact of Covid-19. 

Exports of food and drink to non-EU markets topped sales to the EU after Brexit. 

Sales to non-EU countries made up 55% of all UK food and drink exports in the first three months of 2021 compared to less than 40% a year earlier, according to data from the Food and Drink Federation.

However, this is not thanks to any major boom in exports to non-EU countries, which only rose by 0.3%, the group said.

It means that overall exports of food and drink sunk to £3.7 billion from £5.1 billion a year earlier.

Dominic Goudie, the FDF's head of international trade, said the drop in exports his federation had recorded was a "disaster" for the industry.

Dominic Goudie, Head of International Trade, the FDF, said: “The loss of £2bn of exports to the EU is a disaster for our industry, and is a very clear indication of the scale of losses that UK manufacturers face in the longer-term due to new trade barriers with the EU.

“We set out a plan to mitigate these impacts by boosting support for exporters, and this was backed by the Trade and Agriculture Commission. The Government must stop prevaricating and get behind these proposals to help exporters that have been shut out of trading with the EU.”

 

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All of the UK’s top 10 products exported to the EU fell significantly in value from 2019 to 2021, with whisky dropping 32.3%, chocolate 36.9% and lamb and mutton 14.3%.

Dairy products have been most severely impacted. Compared to 2020, exports of milk and cream to the EU have fallen by more than 90%, and exports of cheese by two thirds in the same time period.

There has also been a return to strong growth in exports to East Asia, where there is high demand for quality UK food and drink.

The UK’s top three non-EU markets, US (11%), China (5%) and Singapore (3%), now account for 19% of the UK’s total exports, a figure of £713m.

UK imports from the EU were also down 10%, driven by a number of factors including the continued closure of the UK’s hospitality sector, stockpiling in late 2020, reduced demand for ingredients as a result of the decline in exports to the EU, and import substitution. 

Following the figures, Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, said it was time the UK Government saw sense. 

The Scottish Lib Dem MP said: “Today’s shocking figures reinforce what we already knew: that the Conservatives’ ideological hard Brexit is devastating our food and drink exports. These hard statistics tell a sorry tale – not of “teething problems” but of structural and systemic damage to local businesses.

"Even if some of the damage in recent months is recovered with time we will continue to suffer a competitive disadvantage as long as these barriers are in place.

“A drop of almost half our exports is hard to fathom. It is as though the Tories took every cheese wheel or crab or haddock we sold to Europe last year, split them down the middle and threw one half to the bottom of the sea.

"Boris Johnson has carved off a chunk of our businesses in pursuit of his own interests and local people are paying the price.

“It is time that the government saw sense and got a comprehensive set of veterinary and sanitary agreements with the EU so we can ease at least some of the harm done by their failures last year. If the figures found in the first quarter are any guide then the need for a fix is only going to become more urgent.”