Summary
A UK Trade and Business Commission consisting of cross-party Parliamentary and business representation has been launched. The aim is to review the UK’s new trade agreements and offer evidence-based recommendation for improvements which could facilitate frictionless trade. Given the Commission’s focus on food supply chains and the new rules of origin and SPS complications which have arisen since 1 January 2021, this initiative could offer an opportunity to raise the profile of ACP agri-food sector trade concerns linked to the Brexit process and advance practical solutions for the renewal of frictionless trade along ACP triangular supply chains used to serve markets in both the UK and EU. Read more “The UK Trade and Business Commission Offers Opportunities for Highlighting ACP Triangular Supply Chain Concerns”
Category: Caribbean
Post Brexit Problems in UK Meat Exports to the EU and Implications for UK Poultry Meat exports to ACP Countries
Summary
UK meat exports to the EU are down 50% in the first six weeks of 2021, with the decline in poultry meat being initially most pronounced. In the long term it is expected UK exports will be down between 230% and 50% depending on the product and size of the exporting enterprises. Particularly in the poultry meat sector this could lead to a surge in exports to non-EU markets, with African and Caribbean markets for frozen poultry parts likely to be targeted. This could easily double current levels of UK exports to targeted African and Caribbean markets. The eventual level of UK trade diversion in the poultry sector will be determined by the nature of the controls placed on mainland UK to Northern Ireland poultry trade. Read more “Post Brexit Problems in UK Meat Exports to the EU and Implications for UK Poultry Meat exports to ACP Countries”
The Implications of the EUs More Assertive Trade Policy: The EU Trade Policy Review Part 2
Summary
The EC is proposing a ‘more assertive’ trade policy, emphasising the need for partner countries to fully live up to commitments entered into under trade agreements their governments have signed on to. There are concerns the more assertive promotion of EU trade and economic interests will dominate other EU trade policy objectives. The EC’s ‘Open Strategic Autonomy’ concept seeks to reconcile the EU’s ‘managed trade’ import regime applied in sensitive agri-food sector, with the need for more open markets for EU exporters. There is a contradiction at the heart of EU agri-food sector trade policy, with the EC seeking to deny ACP EPA signatories the right to use trade policy tools to regulate imports in trade with the EU which the EC itself routinely uses to manage imports from other major agri-food sector competitors. This contradiction is likely to come to the fore in the coming years as the EC seeks to operationalise its ‘more assertive’ trade policy. This will be especially the case if the application of full UK border controls on goods crossing from the EU, generate the kinds of agri-food sector disruptions which have affected UK exporters since 1 January 2021. This could then see surges in EU exports to ACP markets for livestock products such as poultry meat and milk powders. Read more “The Implications of the EUs More Assertive Trade Policy: The EU Trade Policy Review Part 2”
UK Parliamentary Report Reviews Operational Shortcomings of EU/UK TCA and Highlights Rules of Origin Problems Faced by ACP Re-Exports
Summary
While the House of Lords European Union Committee highlights the substantive unresolved issues under the EU/UK TCA, the focus is on the impact on UK businesses. While the impact on developing countries is referred to, this analysis is underdeveloped. A significant number of ACP supply chains are being affected. The new rules of origin complication is a particular area of concern, with ACP exporters being caught up in this new trade challenge. The affected ACP exports range from fresh horticulture, floriculture, and fisheries products, through the onward trade in ACP semi-processed products to ACP sugar exports. A solution to the rules of origin complication at the EU/UK level is unlikely. There is however scope for a solution for ACP exports shipped to the UK via the EU through the kind of UK pragmatic unilateral action which the Committee has called for and which the UK government is nominally open to. Coordinated action by ACP governments and business bodies to secure such unilateral pragmatic UK solutions in trade with the UK would appear urgent, given the scale of total ACP exports potentially facing export market losses. Read more “UK Parliamentary Report Reviews Operational Shortcomings of EU/UK TCA and Highlights Rules of Origin Problems Faced by ACP Re-Exports”
Overview of the EC Trade Policy Review and the Impact of EU Behind Border Concerns The EU Trade Policy Review Part 1
Summary
The EC sets out 3 core trade policy objectives: Supporting the recovery and fundamental transformation of the EU economy in line with its green and digital objectives’; ‘Increasing the EU’s capacity to pursue its interests and enforce its rights, including autonomously where needed’; ‘Shaping global rules for a more sustainable and fairer globalisation. Difficult operational choices will be faced in reconciling these three objectives, with this revolving around the question of who pays for the costs of more sustainable and socially responsible production processes, which at the same time delivers decent and more sustainable livelihoods for developing country producers? Care will need to be taken in ensuring the pursuit of EU interests and enforcement of EU rights does not become the dominant pillar of the EU’s new trade policy. Read more “Overview of the EC Trade Policy Review and the Impact of EU Behind Border Concerns The EU Trade Policy Review Part 1”
COLEACP Updated Brexit Impact Assessment Posted
Summary
The comprehensive nature of COLEACP’s Brexit assessment makes it a useful starting point for all ACP agri-food exporters in their efforts to get to grips with the new trade challenges thrown up by the culmination of the Brexit process. Its analysis of the short-term transitional and long-term structural challenges faced, also raises policy issues which now need to be addressed if disruptions to ACP supply chains which cross the new EU/UK customs and regulatory border are to be minimised. This sets an agenda for concerted ACP action, drawing in stakeholders from the multiplicity of sectors adversely affected by the new trade realities faced. While in the horticulture sector these issues primarily affect ACP exporters using triangular supply chains, in other sectors ACP exporters directly serving EU and UK markets could also be affected. This is particularly the case where imports are used in manufactured food and drink products and where the use of domestically produced alternatives (of either EU or UK origin) could avert any rules of origin complications (e.g., in the use of imported sugar in food and drink products destined for export). Read more “COLEACP Updated Brexit Impact Assessment Posted”
Will ACP Producers Currently Exporting to Irish Markets Via the UK or Using the UK ‘Land Bridge’ Take Advantage of Expanded Mainland EU to Republic of Ireland Ferry Services
Summary
There has been a 3-fold expansion of direct ferry services from the Republic of Ireland to France in 2021, as well as an expansion of direct services to Dutch and Belgian ports. Using these routes to serve Irish markets could enable ACP exporters traditionally using the UK ‘land bridge’ or serving Irish markets via the UK to sidestep export pre-notification requirements further phytosanitary certification requirements, further phytosanitary inspections, and major rules of origin complications, which result in a loss of duty-free access for onward traded goods, while allowing a continuation of low-cost ‘Groupage’ cargo haulage practices. The imbalance in Irish truck-based exports compared to imports could open up opportunities for securing low-cost freight services, which balance the more expensive ferry costs along these routes. However, this will require a process of ‘match making’ between ACP exporters and Irish hauliers, where potentially Irish government support could play a role. Read more “Will ACP Producers Currently Exporting to Irish Markets Via the UK or Using the UK ‘Land Bridge’ Take Advantage of Expanded Mainland EU to Republic of Ireland Ferry Services”
Brexit Bureaucracy Places Brake on Commercial Flexibility for ACP Horticultural Exports
Summary
Pre-export notification requirements, the need to re-issue phytosanitary certificates, problems in delivering ‘groupage’ cargoes, port clearance delays and rising road haulage charges are all undermining the commercial flexibility required for ACP exporters to exploit emerging market opportunities, where this involves the movement of goods across EU/UK borders. This is depressing export earnings, with this being a particular problem for smaller scale ACP exporters. In addition, new rules of origin complication which lead to standard MFN import tariffs being applied if goods delivered along triangular supply chains are not shipped under customs supervision, is requiring a fundamental rethink of the routes to market being used. A policy response, involving modification of the ‘Direct Transport’ provisions of the rules of origin applied under ACP-UK trade agreements and ACP-EU trade agreements is urgently needed, if smaller scale exporters shipping along triangular supply chains are not to be driven of UK and Irish markets. Read more “Brexit Bureaucracy Places Brake on Commercial Flexibility for ACP Horticultural Exports”
UK Deferment of Implementation of Phase 2 and Phase 3 UK/EU Border Controls Leave Problems Faced By ACP Triangular Supply Chain Exporters Unaddressed
Summary
On 11 March 2021, the UK government announced the deferment until 2022 of its planned phase 2 and phase 3 controls on goods crossing an EU/UK border. This has reduced concerns over potential disruptions of UK imports of fresh produce in the coming months and provides a 9-month breathing space for the UK authorities to set in place border control infrastructure and services which are ‘fit for purpose’. This deferment benefits EU producers, but largely leaves ACP exporters serving UK markets along triangular supply chains unaffected. ACP exporters will still face the dilemma of choosing between entering the EU customs union so as to benefit from the light UK import controls applied to EU products and losing ‘originating status and facing MFN tariffs, which is the consequence of leaving customs supervised transit arrangements. Clearly there is an urgent need to address specific ACP triangular supply chain issues if the functioning of many of these ACP triangular supply chains are not to be fundamentally undermined. Read more “UK Deferment of Implementation of Phase 2 and Phase 3 UK/EU Border Controls Leave Problems Faced By ACP Triangular Supply Chain Exporters Unaddressed”
Future Caribbean Trade Relations with the UK: Summary of Areas of Concern
Summary
The new EU/UK rules of origin requirements for the cross-border movement of goods could prove disruptive of certain Caribbean rum, horticulture, sugar and potentially rice supply chains. At the business level this will require a rethinking of routes to markets. At the policy level it will require a sustained engagement to secure a right of automatic cumulation for all Caribbean products enjoying duty-free/quota-free access to both the EU and UK markets, when traded across an EU/UK border. Only such a policy innovation would remove the rules of origin complications which threatened to make commercially non-viable the current Caribbean exports which are routed via the EU to the UK market or via the UK to EU markets. Read more “Future Caribbean Trade Relations with the UK: Summary of Areas of Concern”