UK milk and cream exports into the EU have plummeted since the start of the year, providing the dairy industry with one of the gloomiest Brexit outcomes so far.
Milk and cream exports, worth £24 million in February last year, dropped a staggering 96% to just £900,000 this year. Cheese exports have also fallen 65% on a year-on-year basis, albeit an improvement on an 85% drop in January.
Whilst trade body Dairy UK suggest that normal patterns of trade are starting to resume, they’ve warned that changes to trade are significant enough to make exporting unviable in a number of cases.
Dominic Goudie, head of international trade at the Food and Drink Federation, commented that: “Exports to our biggest market, Ireland, have also dropped more than two thirds. UK businesses continue to struggle with inconsistent and incorrect demands at EU borders, and small businesses have been hardest hit.
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“It is essential that the EU-UK partnership council and its trade specialised committees are convened to urgently address problems.”