Brexit: What it means for the food and drink industries

What Britain’s exit from the European Union (“Brexit”) means for food and agriculture is worth attention.

As The Guardian put it,

It is no coincidence that food and drink is at the heart of so much of the debate about whether we are better off in or out of the EU. Worth £80bn a year and employing 400,000 people, it is our largest manufacturing sector and a big exporter and importer. Moreover, 38% of its workers are foreign-born, placing its demand for cheap labour at the centre of arguments about immigration.

The common agriculture policy (CAP) swallows up nearly 40% of the total EU budget…Britain produces just more than half what it consumes and depends on Europe to provide more than a quarter of the rest, while the EU’s population of more than 500 million people provides the UK’s most significant export market for food.

Agrimoney, a London-based concern that reports on commodity markets began its report on Brexit’s impact with these words:

Oh dear.

Tim Lang, professor at City University London’s Centre for Food Policy, told Food Navigator:

People will pay more for food. The British people have voted to raise the food prices…Where do they think their food comes from? Planet Zog?

Bakery & Snacks is especially interested in the meaning of Brexit for the food and drink industries.

It produced a Special Edition highlighting its articles on the topic.

The UK’s decision to leave the European Union goes against the wishes of 71% of the UK food & drink industry, according to a poll by the Food and Drink Federation. William Reed Business Media publications assess the impact for individual sectors such as snacks, confectionery, dairy, bakery and feed as well as food ingredients suppliers. What will Brexit mean for the food, feed and drink industries?

• Britain votes to leave the EU: What now?: Britain has voted to leave the European Union and Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned as a result. Across Europe and the UK, the food industry is coming to terms with the outcome… Read
• Brexit fallout: Snack sales face threat of drop in discretionary spend: Sweet and savory snacks will be among the hardest hit UK food categories as a result of the Brexit vote, according to analysts Euromonitor International… Read
• Brexit: The industry responds: As snacks and bakery businesses across the globe come to terms with the ramifications of the UK’s impending exit from the European Union, we gather responses from businesses, trade bodies and stakeholders… Read
• Confectionery to be worst hit UK food sector after Brexit, says Euromonitor: Confectionery volumes are forecast to decline faster than any other packaged food category after the UK voted to leave the European Union… Read
• Dairy reacts to Brexit vote: Following the decision of the British public to leave the EU, attention has turned to how business will be affected, how negotiations will take place and the timescales involved… Read
• BREXIT: Leave vote poses huge questions for Britain’s agricultural supply industry, says UK feed lobby: The result of the Brexit referendum was announced this morning with a vote in favor of the UK leaving the EU, and the British prime minster, David Cameron, subsequently announcing he is going to step down. Sterling has hit a 30 year low and uncertainty now reigns in the UK feed and agribusiness sector… Read
• Industry reaction: What #Brexit means for UK & EU nutrition sectors: For the first time the European Union has lost a member after the British people yesterday voted to leave the bloc which began life as the European Economic Community in 1951… Read

And here is one more.

• British food firms set to increase trade with US following Brexit vote: UK confectionery and snack businesses may look to ramp up their trade with the US in light of last week’s vote to leave the European Union… Read

It’s obvious from reading all this that the effects of the Brexit decision are largely unknown. not easy to predict, but unlikely to be good.  The follow-up will be interesting to watch.

Fingers crossed that the fallout won’t be as bad as predicted.

Additions

• Bee Wilson’s eloquent elegy for the benefits of European Union food for British palates in the New Yorker
• Tim Lang’s expanded and referenced discussion in The Guardian