Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the UK’s exit from the EU on trends in the cost of exporting food to the EU.

The Trade and Continuity Agreement provides businesses tariff and quota free access to the EU market, provided that these goods meet ‘Rules of Origin’ requirements.

UK businesses must comply with customs procedures when exporting food. These procedures include Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) border controls as well as technical regulations, standards and conformity assessments. Not enough time has passed to robustly assess the trend in these costs.

In 2023, the UK exported £14.0 billion of Food, Feed and Drink to the EU. This represents a nominal increase of 0.3% compared to 2018, but 19% lower than 2018 after adjusting for inflation.