Cian Hassett, Trade Market Executive, London Office, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board
As the proposed Brexit deadline of October 31st draws closer, the Bord Bia London office would like to remind its business partners of the significant amount of work that Bord Bia has undertaken to prepare the Irish Food & Drink industry for a No-Deal Brexit scenario.
Specifically, we are continuing to engage with our clients in preparing them in relation to Customs, Supply Chain & Logistics.
Bord Bia’s Supply Chain Optimisation Workshop
Registration for the upcoming Supply Chain Optimisation workshop, held on Tuesday 22nd October at Bord Bia’s Creative Workshop, has opened. This half day workshop, with experts Simply Supply Chain, will address the key challenges facing companies, as highlighted in the Brexit Barometer 2019 findings.
Key Events This Week
Customs Workshop: HSE Update
Bord Bia held a Customs Training workshop in Thurles during the week with a wide range of companies in attendance. Catherine Dunne, from the HSE, was in attendance and presented to PCF and Alcohol companies on the process of exporting products not of animal origin, and the steps required to be taken.
She spoke about when Export/Health Certificates would be needed;
- For foods of non-animal origin being exported from Ireland to countries outside the single market, import authorities may require an export certificate
- The requirements for a cert would depend on the local controls of the import country
- Export Certificates provide evidence that products listed comply with food law and facilitates trade
- Certs would not be required for products distributed within the EU single market
The UK, at this point, has confirmed they do not require an export certificate however this may change if or when the UK become a third country. Companies need to be registered with the HSE in order to get an Export Certificate. This can be easily done through their local EHO office.
The process of obtaining an export certificate can be done online and can take between 5-15 days to get it. The latter is the time estimated for a new product. Typically, it would take 5 days. However, if you are exporting on a regular basis, you can get multiple certs and it is the responsibly of the company to ensure they are correctly tracking this. Contact details for online registration and also for the HSE can be found below.
Import Controls: importcontroldublin@hse.ie
Export Certificates: exportcertificates@hse.ie
As was revealed through discussions with companies in attendance, if your company is seeking a Country of Origin Certificates, these are available from the Chamber of Commerce. https://www.chambers.ie/services/certificates-of-origin/
Consumer Pulse Survey:
Bord Bia this week revealed the results of its 5th consumer pulse survey, tracking consumer feelings in the UK, in order to understand how Brexit is impacting on perceptions and attitudes towards the Republic of Ireland and its main food & drink categories.
Research was done over a wide sample of UK consumers. The main topics covered were around the mood of the nation, and understanding affinity towards Republic of Ireland and its key food & drink produce. The fifth wave of tracking was conducted from the 21st-23rd September.
Key Headlines
- There is no sign of the political situation negatively impacting affinity towards Irish food as the openness of UK shoppers to choosing Irish remains extremely high at 89%, an increase from 85% in January. This is reinforced with the same proportion considering the Republic of Ireland a ‘friend’ of the UK as was seen back in January’19 at 66%.
- The main types of food where concern exists regarding future availability as a result of a no deal Brexit are unsurprisingly ‘fresh’ in nature – many of which have a strong Rep. of Ireland presence in the UK, such as meat, mushrooms and cheese.
- Despite significantly more UK grocery shoppers feeling the country is stepping in the wrong direction (40%) as a result of current Brexit progress, there is clear momentum for those feeling it is going in the right direction of 24% – which has doubled since March’19.
- Despite the growth of feeling that the UK is going in the right direction, a growing lack of confidence is evident among shoppers around continued availability of food and drink they enjoy - now as many shoppers feel not confident as confident on this.
Minister Creed announced first wave of No-Deal Brexit contingencies:
Outlining the Government’s ‘No deal’ Brexit package designed to assist the most vulnerable sectors in the event of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit Minister Creed stated, “The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has confirmed that the Government will provide a ‘No Deal’ contingency fund to support our most vulnerable sectors, with up to €650 million available overall, to be activated in tranches as the full impacts of Brexit emerge. €110 million will be made available for the agri-food sector in the first tranche, to be supplemented by any exceptional aid provided from the EU.”
If the UK leaves without a deal, we will work our way through the necessary state aid provisions to deploy these resources in the most effective way possible. The provision of immediate support for our beef sector (€85 million) will be a first priority, as will support for our fishing fleet (€14 million). We will also want to support food companies wishing to re-orient production and marketing towards non UK markets (€5 million) and to provide necessary support to other sectors to improve competitiveness (€6 million).
While supports cannot fully address the negative effects of a No Deal for the agri-food and fisheries sectors, this first tranche of supports will be used to ameliorate the immediate impact on farmers and fishermen, as the full impact of a No Deal Brexit crystallises, and to make some of the adjustments needed to improve resilience for businesses in the face of new market realities.”
UK Government Tariff Update:
This week the government published an update to the UK’s temporary tariff regime for if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. This contained no new update to tariffs surrounding food and drink, with the hope being that this will allow for a smooth operation of UK supply chains since there was no change since the rates were originally published in March. Additionally they announced an exceptional review process to make changes to the temporary tariff regimes if necessary, after the proposed exit day.
The 2019 Brexit Barometer Industry Findings Report and Action Plan can now be downloaded from the Bord Bia website. The Action Plan provides practical information and outlines a number of steps that Irish food and drink companies can take in order to mitigate the risks posed by Brexit.
Information on the support services can be found by following the above links. Alternatively, all information can be found on the Brexit page on the Bord Bia website: https://www.bordbia.ie/industry/trading-with-uk/
The pound mounted its biggest rally against the dollar in almost a year on Thursday, as investors seized on hopes of a Brexit breakthrough following last-ditch talks between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar.
Sterling rose from just over $1.22 to $1.24 during two hours of intense trading on Thursday, climbing 1.4% as the leaders tried to reach a compromise over the term of Britain’s exit from the EU. The Pound-to-Euro exchange rate advanced 1.62% to €1.1323 on Thursday, its highest level of the month; but we note that the currency is still trading at a sizeable discount to the year's highs located towards €1.18.
Looking ahead:
14th October: Boris Johnson’s government sets out its legislative programme in the Queen’s Speech.
17th - 18th October: European Council meeting in Brussels, where the EU27 and UK could finalise whether a Brexit deal can be agreed or not.
19th October: Benn Act kicks in, says that if no Brexit agreement is approved by this date, the PM must ask for an extension until January 31st.
21st – 22nd October: MPs vote on Queen's speech
23rd October: Possible date for a Commons vote calling for an election under the Fixed-Term Parliaments act. If two-thirds vote for an election, most likely date for an election is December 5th.
31st October Legal default for the UK to leave the EU
1st November New European Commission starts its term in office
May 2020: this will be the last day the UK will get to leave the EU as the new EU budget round comes in.