British beef sales to the EU dropped from £231.2m (€269.3m) in January–June 2019 to £145.4m (€169.4m) in January–June 2021, according to the UK’s Food & Drink Exporters Association. Photo: Shutterstock

British beef sales to the EU dropped from £231.2m (€269.3m) in January–June 2019 to £145.4m (€169.4m) in January–June 2021, according to the UK’s Food & Drink Exporters Association. Photo: Shutterstock

British food and drink exports to the EU have collapsed by £2bn (€2.3bn) compared to pre-covid and pre-Brexit levels.

Sales of UK food and drink products to the EU during the first six months of the year dropped by 27.4% compared to pre-covid 2019. Exports were down by 15.9% over last year, when the UK left the European trading bloc.

“Despite the return to growth in [EU countries], sales of UK food and drink are down £2bn compared to pre-covid levels because of a sharp drop in sales to the EU,” the Food & Drink Exporters Association on 2 September. “A combination of the ongoing impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, and new barriers to trade resulting from the new trading arrangements, have led to a fall in exports to the EU of more than a quarter since H1 2019. Exports to nearly all EU member states fell significantly, including a loss of more than £0.5bn in sales to Ireland.”

UK food and drink exports to Luxembourg declined by 49.2% between the first half of 2019 and the first half of 2021, and by 66.2% between the first halves of 2020 and 2021.

Sales to Italy and Spain were down by more than a half, to Denmark and Germany by more than a third, and to Austria and Ireland by more than a quarter, compared to 2019. However, sales to Latvia rose by 10.6% and to Lithuania by 41.6% over the same period.

The sharpest contractions were recorded for beef (-37.1% between the first half of 2019 and first half of 2021), cheese (-34.2%), and milk and cream products (-19%).

On the other hand, salmon sales spiked by 26.7% and whisky exports were up by 19.7% between the first halves of 2020 and 2021.