A drop-off in UK imports and exports following its departure from the EU has had a marked impact on agri-food trade, a new report has found.
Research published today (17 September) by Aston University, based in the English Midlands, has revealed the negative impact of Brexit has intensified over time.
And the report’s authors have called for “urgent policy intervention” to arrest the decline in trade.
The Unbound: UK Trade Post Brexit report showed there has been a 27% drop in exports from the UK to the EU since 2021, compared with what it predicts would have happened without Brexit. It judged there has been a 32% reduction in imports from the EU between 2021 and 2023.
The agri-food sector is one of those that has been hardest hit, the report said. The biggest drop in export value was for edible fruit and nuts, which slumped 73.5%.
Trade with smaller and more distant countries in the EU has been affected the most, the study showed.
The report’s authors analysed monthly imports and exports between the UK and the EU, from January 2017 to December 2023.
The report said: “Exports for most sectors have decreased since January 2021, although the impact is varied. Agri-food, textile and clothing and material-based manufacturing have been among the hardest hit, with substantial declines in both export value and the variety of products exported.”
It added: “On the import side, most sectors have shrunk in both value and variety, particularly agri-food products, optical, textile and material-based manufacturing.”
Their recommendations for policy interventions include negotiating sector-specific deals, engaging with individual EU countries and working on reducing non-tariff barriers
Lead author, Professor Jun Du, said: “The [post-Brexit] Trade and Cooperation Agreement introduced substantial barriers and there are ongoing and marked declines in the value and variety of UK exports and imports. Without urgent policy interventions, the UK’s economic position and place in the global market will continue to weaken.”
The EU remains the UK’s largest trade partner but Brexit has seen the introduction of trade tariffs and additional controls at the border.
Many smaller UK producers have given up exporting small amounts to the EU after facing more rules and regulations, the report found.
New UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has talked of “re-setting” the relationship between the UK and its former EU partners.
A government spokesperson told UK broadcaster the BBC it will "work to improve our trade and investment relationship with the EU and tear down unnecessary trade barriers, while recognising that there will be no return to the single market, customs union or freedom of movement".
The UK government has just announced a further delay to post-Brexit border checks on fruit and vegetables imported into Great Britain from the EU.
The physical checks are necessary now that the UK is no longer part of the EU single market for trade. However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Friday (13 September) that the date for their implementation, already delayed several times, has been pushed back from January 2025 to 1 July 2025.
The first phase of the country’s new border model came into force on 31 January. A second phase started on 30 April, introducing physical checks for products such as chilled and frozen meat, fish, cheese, eggs, dairy products and certain cut flowers and seeds.
