Agricultural import tariffs

[Treg]

UK businesses urge PM to seal post-Brexit EU free trade deal | International trade | The Guardian

Government sets out plan to cut tariffs, with farming and car industry to be protected

amp.theguardian.com

 

[andybk]

good start

 

[Highland Mule]

good start

not convinced. We’ve just put a big import duty on any EU country who wants to export to us. Don’t you think they might want to reciprocate? EU import tariffs are the important ones.

 

[Werzle]

Good for the beef job seeing as we only produce 70%of what we consume

 

[Steevo]

It's certainly encouraging they've changed tack slightly.

The concerning thing is the government were saying one thing, then do another, then who knows where after that...?

 

[Guleesh]

Good for the beef job seeing as we only produce 70%of what we consume

What's good for one sector is good for all imo, - if a farm with both focuses more on beef than lamb it helps lower the lamb over production that require exporting, just takes some time to filter through and find its level.

I haven't given up hope yet of reasonable deals to be made with EU and beyond, especially after reading this, it shows farming hasn't been thrown under the bus quite yet, but honestly just expecting to have to tighten the belt a bit more and ride out a few rough years for lamb.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

What's good for one sector is good for all imo, - if a farm with both focuses more on beef than lamb it helps lower the lamb over production that require exporting, just takes some time to filter through and find its level.

I haven't given up hope yet of reasonable deals to be made with EU and beyond, especially after reading this, it shows farming hasn't been thrown under the bus quite yet, but honestly just expecting to have to tighten the belt a bit more and ride out a few rough years for lamb.

There is no lamb over production in the UK. It is that we import from NZ and Australia under a historical quota which used to help keep lamb on sale at a relatively level price all the year round. In fact NZ was the only one who used to advertise lamb and help us to sell more.
Unfortunately we used to have a glut in the Autumn and a shortage in late Spring and early summer which had the effect of a very low Autumn price and a higher spring price.
Once we were able to export into the EU price rose significantly and we were able to sell a lot more lambs and NZ and Australia continued to fill the gap which kept the supermarkets happy.
Ironically going forward sheep look a lower risk than beef if we get a trade deal with the USA.

 

[Guleesh]

There is no lamb over production in the UK. It is that we import from NZ and Australia under a historical quota which used to help keep lamb on sale at a relatively level price all the year round. In fact NZ was the only one who used to advertise lamb and help us to sell more.
Unfortunately we used to have a glut in the Autumn and a shortage in late Spring and early summer which had the effect of a very low Autumn price and a higher spring price.
Once we were able to export into the EU price rose significantly and we were able to sell a lot more lambs and NZ and Australia continued to fill the gap which kept the supermarkets happy.
Ironically going forward sheep look a lower risk than beef if we get a trade deal with the USA.

I always thought mostly smaller carcasses that didn't fit the UK market spec that went to EU? I can't see how prices for lamb can rise without new export markets as lamb is already quite expensive compared to other meats on the supermarket shelves, With covid potentially ruining hotel and restaurant trade for the immediate future I guess it compounds things further?

 

[Farmer1001]

There is no good news in this. Tariffs are barriers to trade, they never enhance trade especially if that trade has previously been free of tariffs. The fact of the matter is these are UK quoted tariffs that we will impose on all countries whom export to us if we dont have a FT deal in place, so this includes the EU and the 70 odd countries we have deals with via our EU membership, obviously not all of them export agri products to the UK, but many do not least the obvious NZ. So thats what we will impose on our imports, and in return the EU and all these others will impose a rate schedule upon the UK.

The flaws to one side, these Tariffs will kill trade deals with everyone outside the EU that the UK are desperately trying to sign up including the USA, NZ etc, as such they wont ever be imposed (IMHO). So unless Trussy can sign up the USA, NZ, Australia etc before the end of the year, then these tariffs wont even get imposed upon the EU as to do so would mean imposing them on the USA, NZ etc. So out of sheer desperation we will do urgent deals with Non EU countries so we can use this tariff threat with the EU, the Yanks know it and when it comes to the crunch they will have to do no more than lay their terms on the table and watch our negotiators decide between selling our soul to the devil, back tracking on our EU tariff threats or become the most protectionist trading nation on the planet without a single FT trade deal with any other country. Interesting times.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I always thought mostly smaller carcasses that didn't fit the UK market spec that went to EU? I can't see how prices for lamb can rise without new export markets as lamb is already quite expensive compared to other meats on the supermarket shelves, With covid potentially ruining hotel and restaurant trade for the immediate future I guess it compounds things further?

The light lamb market was always a seasonal thing and while it helped get rid of many small Hill lambs in reality it was a small part of the trade that went to the EU and had been disappearing over the last few years as sheep had been bred better or done better. The days of 7 to 11 kg carcasses has mostly gone and is taken up by many of the lambs from the milking sheep in Italy and Spain.

The major part of the export market for lamb is in two areas, the high quality, high value end which goes into France at a premium price much of which goes through the supermarkets but also for catering and other outlets via Rungis market.
The other significant area is for the very lean lambs of mixed conformation which end up for various ethnic groups, many for the German Turk market who eat large quantities of lamb and mutton, but they don't like fat. Roughly 35% of our lambs are exported to the EU but this tends to be the better quality at a higher price, so in value terms may be closer to 45%.