A Brexit no deal could result in ‘potentially significant disruption’ in animal by product prices and collections, the meat industry has been warned.
As has been well documented, the prospects of the UK leaving without a deal on October have increased with the arrival of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. Speaking at the G7 summit in France this week, Mr Johnson said he was ‘marginally more optimistic’ of a deal, but said it all depended on the willingness of the EU to compromise on the Irish backstop. He repeatedly refused to rule out proroguing parliament to try to push through a no deal in order to leave by October 31.
There will be numerous implications for the pig sector of a no deal, one of which has been highlighted by FABRA UK, which represents over 90% of the UK animal by product processing industry.
It has been in discussion with Defra, its Agencies and devolved Governments for the past two years to prepare for potential Brexit scenarios. With an October 31 no deal seeming ‘more likely than ever’, it is alerting key stakeholders of ‘potentially significant disruption to access into European markets for processed animal protein (PAP) and tallow’.
“We are looking into practical contingencies to prevent and minimise disruption to our operations,” the organisation said. “However, we also need the Government to assist with solutions to address the EU import conditions that will apply to the UK as a third country under No Deal and on opening export markets for our products to other third countries.
“If these issues cannot be resolved or mitigated there may be a significant fall in UK PAP and tallow prices and potential disruption to our collections of ABPs from the meat industry.”
‘We are alerting our customers and industry stakeholders of these potential market conditions to give them advanced warning that our members may be forced to review their collection and pricing strategies for animal by product raw material. This is an industry wide issue and is not limited to individual animal by product processors.”