UK goods exports to EU fall 6% as border checks on food and plants bite

British goods exports to the European Union fell 6% in the year to August, according to figures published on Friday, with food, plants and animal products accounting for most of the decline as border checks introduced over the past two years have driven small exporters out of the market.

The Office for National Statistics said goods exports to the EU were worth £168bn in the 12 months to August, down £10.7bn on the previous year. Exports of dairy products fell 14%, cut flowers and plants 22% and live animals 31%. Exports to the rest of the world rose 2%, led by pharmaceuticals and aircraft parts, so that overall goods exports were down 2.4%.

Trade economists said the figures showed the cumulative effect of checks that were phased in from 2024, including veterinary certificates for animal products, physical inspections at border control posts and new labelling rules. A sanitary and phytosanitary agreement negotiated with Brussels last year, which would remove most of the checks, has not yet come into force and is not expected to until late 2027.

“The agreement is coming, but businesses are being asked to survive the gap,” said Dr Lena Fairbairn, a trade economist at the University of Sussex. “What you see in these numbers is attrition. A large cheese exporter hires a customs team and keeps going. A farm that used to send three pallets a week to a wholesaler in Lille looks at £400 of paperwork per consignment and stops.”

Among those who have stopped is Westcombe Hill Dairy, a Somerset producer that exported about 15% of its cheddar to France and the Netherlands before 2021. Its owner, Catherine Pyke, said she had given up the trade in March after a consignment was held for four days at Calais and arrived unsaleable. “The certificate cost me £180, the vet’s visit £120, the broker £90, and then they opened it anyway,” she said. “I now sell that cheese in Bristol for less money and no stress. I would go back to Europe tomorrow if they let me, but I am not going to be the one who proves the system does not work.”

Larger exporters have adapted but say the costs are permanent. Orbital Logistics, the recently floated parcels group, said it employed 140 customs specialists who did not exist in its business before 2021, and that a lorry to Milan took on average 11 hours longer than it did in 2019.

The figures also showed imports from the EU falling 3%, with British importers of fresh produce increasingly sourcing from Morocco, Egypt and Kenya to avoid checks. Retailers said this had kept shelves stocked but at a higher cost.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said the government was “working at pace” to bring the SPS agreement into effect and pointed to the growth in exports to the rest of the world. Ms Pyke said she had heard “working at pace” before. “Pace would be nice,” she said. “A date would be better.”