Commenting on Logistics UK’s welcome for reports that the UK and EU have finalised a draft SPS agreement, Nigel Jenney, Chief Executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium, said:
“Logistics UK is right: friction at the border costs money, and every consignment that clears faster helps keep shelves full and prices down. FPC supports a closer relationship with Europe, and we share the ambition to remove unnecessary barriers to trade.
“But as drafted, this deal fixes one border by building another. Half of the fresh produce the UK imports comes from outside the EU – citrus, mangoes, blueberries, sweet potatoes, peppers. Under dynamic alignment, up to 120,000 of those consignments a year, destined solely for British consumers, would face EU-style controls they do not need today. That moves the burden somewhere else; it does not simplify anything.
“We are a large, diverse nation that has always depended on food imports as a key part of our food security. For generations we have imported far more than we export. So why put extra costs on the 80 billion portions of fresh produce behind our five-a-day habit?
“Logistics UK estimates that agri-food exporters to the EU will save £150 to £250 per consignment. It rightly points to the toll on groupage operators, who are charged on every consignment in a mixed load. The same arithmetic runs the other way for Rest of World imports. We estimate more than £300 million a year in added cost. That is roughly £2,500 for every affected consignment, and it will fall on importers, hauliers and wholesalers and, in the end, on shoppers at the checkout.
“The Government has said this deal will help bring down food price inflation for families. On fresh produce, as drafted, it will do the opposite. Hard-pressed UK consumers are still feeling the cost of their weekly shop, and fruit and vegetables are exactly where we should be making healthy choices easier and cheaper, not dearer. A policy meant to ease food inflation cannot add £300 million to the cost of the fruit and veg aisle and still claim to be on the shopper’s side.
“And for what? The UK’s science-based, risk-led regime already achieves 99.5% compliance across those consignments. The science has not changed; the politics have. Adding cost, delay and waste to a system that works brings no measurable gain for biosecurity.
“Logistics UK has called on the UK–EU Summit on 20 November to find further opportunities to reduce unnecessary barriers to trade. Here is one, ready-made. If the Government keeps the UK’s existing regime for Rest of World fresh produce coming here for UK consumption, it can secure the benefits of the reset. It need not sacrifice the four million tonnes of global produce that Britain relies on every year.
“A deal that makes it harder to put fruit and vegetables on British plates cannot be called a growth deal. We urge the Prime Minister to get this right in Brussels. And we invite everyone in the supply chain, logistics operators included, to add their voice at freshproduceaction.co.uk/action-pack.”