Brexit could mean meat crisis

The European Livestock and Meat Trades Union (UECBV) which represents meat and livestock trade sectors across Europe, examined the impact of Brexit in a recent report, (http://tinyurl.com/UECBV-Brexit). In a referendum June 23, 2016, 51.9 percent of the participating UK electorate voted to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. This report found that the European meat sector would be devastated by a no-deal outcome, which could result in higher tariffs under a Hard Brexit Scenario, with trade collapsing and market prices falling, resulting in job losses across the EU. A wide range of meat types or cuts would attract a tariff up to or in excess of 100 percent of the product value, which would render them uncompetitive and result in major displacement in trade flows. Under one scenario the report found that in monetary terms, this would reduce the value of EU production of beef by approximately Ђ2.4 billion (approx. U.S. $2.83 billion) in the short-run. The UK market is one of the highest value markets for EU meat, and the UK beef price is one of the highest in Europe. The same largely holds true for pig meat and sheep meat prices. A situation in which trade with the UK was severely restricted would not only mean a massive loss in volume of trade for the EU27 members, but also a loss in high value trade with a sophisticated consumer market. Philippe Borremans, UECBV president, wrote in the report, “The scale of this problem is too great to ignore, and we implore policymakers to recognise the catastrophic impact of a Hard Brexit for the meat sector, to follow through on the recommendations put forward in this report, and to protect this vital European sector.”