The UK food industry continues to face disruption due to Brexit related barriers for exports and supply chain issues partly inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Progress continues to be slow in terms of establishing new Border Control Posts (BCPs) in Anglesey and Pembrokeshire. While a site for the Anglesey BCP was agreed in March 2021, construction and arrangements are slow with regard to preparing the site ready to operate, while negotiations regarding a site in Pembrokeshire are ongoing.
Notwithstanding the ongoing discussions on how to address the issues of the Northern Ireland Protol, the Irish Government have revealed that cross-border trade between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland increased by €2.8 billion in 2021, with imports to the Republic from Northern Ireland up 65%, to €3.9 billion, and exports from the Republic to Northern Ireland up 54% to €3.7 billion.
The biggest increase in trade in both directions was in food and live animals, however, imports from Great Britain fell €2.3 billion for the same period.
The introduction of new Export Health Certificates which were only made available 24 hours before they came into operation has led to a range of problems, most notable by causing some dairy exporters to have to delay consignments bound for the European Union.
While the EU has requested that Member States act flexibly regarding the new certificates until the end of April, there is concern that products produced from milk from herds containing animals imported into the UK in the previous three months will not be exportable to the EU after April unless milk from imported animals has been segregated. There may be a requirement for an attestation that products do not contain milk from such imported animals. This will also impact on exports to Northern Ireland.
The UK Market Monitoring Group continues to monitor the increase in input costs, particularly in terms of fertiliser - although fertiliser costs (circa £650/tonne) and availability (which is sporadic) are expected to have a further knock on impact on other input costs and fodder availability as the year goes on.
The UK Government announced on 1st February that a deal had been reached with CF Fertilisers’ Billingham plant allowing it to continue to operate while global gas prices remain high - ensuring continued production and that the food industry continues to have access to supplies of carbon dioxide.
In terms of the pig sector, more than 30,000 pigs have now been culled on farms due to the problems facing the industry. There are currently around 170,000 pigs backed up on farms due to the problems in the supply chain.
Private Storage Aid measures for the pig industry in England introduced in October have now been revised and extended, with the applications having been open until 2nd February 2022 or sooner if the maximum tonnage of 14,000 available tonnes had been met.
Vacancies in processing plants continue to be at high levels of around 20%, with vacancies highest in meat processing plants, due to the lack of migrant workers and local workers not returning to work after furloughs or seeking alternative careers.
On Christmas Eve the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme was extended by three years but did not include poultry workers.
It is estimated that the total number of vacancies in the food supply chain is 140,000.