In its February 2021 food and drink trade snapshot, the UK’s Food and Drink Federation (FDF) paints a disturbing picture of dairy exports to the EU since Brexit. Overall, exports were down more than a fifth in February 2021, driven by a fall in sales to the EU of 40.9% compared to February 2020, a drop of nearly £400m ($555m). In the first two months of 2021, exports to the EU are down more than £1.1bn ($1.53bn). Exports to most EU Member States fell significantly, with Ireland down more than 70% and Germany, Spain and Italy by around 50%.
The FDF, which represents more than 800 food and drink companies from global brands to small businesses, said the dairy and meat sectors were worst impacted, with sales of milk and cream to the EU down 96.4%, and cheese down by 64.6% when compared to February of the previous year. Food and drink imports were down more than 10% in February 2021, driven by a drop of 17% from the EU compared to February 2020 worth more than £425m ($590m). At the same time, imports from the rest of the world increased by nearly 6%. Imports of cheese in February were down almost 21% compared to February 2020.