Food import problems are inevitable

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) predicts that imports into the UK will fall sharply in January. FDF has also warned that it is inevitable that businesses will face problems at the border and that deliveries of EU products will be temporarily blocked. 

 

An article in The Independent says that the UK's food supply is likely to be further disrupted. The new regulations required from 1 January 2022 mean extra paperwork, but the government's computer system is suffering from technical bugs. The system is considered by some professionals to be "medieval" and unable to handle all the post-Brexit paperwork. 

 

The software that automatically uploads the information will not be ready for several months, forcing food importers to manually enter the data for each shipment.

 

This comes at the worst possible time, as the UK imports mainly half of its food from the EU during the winter months and up to 90% of lettuce and 85% of tomatoes. 

 

FDF predicts that imports into the UK will fall sharply in January while businesses assess the situation, as they did in 2021. FDF has also warned that it is "inevitable" that businesses will encounter problems at the border and in some cases deliveries of products from the EU may be blocked, at least temporarily.

 

 

 

 

 

source : independent.co.uk