A 56% drop in poultry meat exports since 2020 underscores the erosion of British poultry supply
chains due to Brexit, the British Poultry Council has said, citing new data from HMRC shows.
Certification alone has cost exporters £55 million a year since 1 January 2021. Meanwhile, importers have enjoyed a competitive advantage, paying £0 since controls have been delayed five times in two years.
The lack of a level playing field means the UK exported 167,000 tonnes of poultry meat to the EU last
year, worth £225 million – down from 380,000 tonnes in 2020. Conversely imports of poultry meat
continue to rise, with the UK bringing in nearly 675,000 tonnes from the EU, valued at over £2
billion.
With news that 15% of poultry producers were “unlikely or unsure” they would still be operating
beyond November 2025, these stark figures highlight the challenges faced by the British poultry
meat industry, exacerbated by asymmetrical trade with our biggest and most important partner.
The current system, that UK importers are due to feel the full weight of from 30 April 2024, “is
eroding business viability and pushing up production costs in the UK, off the back of a very real cost-of-living crisis,” said BPC chief executive, Richard Griffiths.
Griffiths said: “No one wants the burdens wrapped up in additional checks. Exporting sectors
like our own have suffered the pains of so-called ‘teething problems’ since day one, but the ongoing
impact of unreciprocated controls is just as big a problem. We have to level the burden to level the
playing field. That’s what an equal approach to import checks with the EU guarantees: it recognises
our standards, backs our producers, and ensures safe, affordable, nutritious food for all.”
The British Poultry Council said the cost of not having fair, reciprocated checks is greater than
the burdens that come with them – particularly in the absence of a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS)
Agreement, in which burdens and checks could be addressed, equalised, and potentially eliminated.
“If quality food for all is the priority, then we have to level the playing field across industries, sectors,
and entire nations. Only then can we go on to address the inefficiencies in UK-EU trade while
safeguarding standards across the board – facilitated by an SPS Agreement,” said Griffiths.
Griffiths said: “This Government has not made any real effort to pursue an SPS agreement,
and continued imbalance between import and export controls is a burden we have yet to see
Government take seriously. By not fixing problems with a mutually beneficial SPS agreement
between the UK and EU, Government is exposing the UK’s food frameworks to more instability.”