Brexit: Lambs to the slaughter
- Brexit talks have been passed back to negotiators, with little sign of progress from the UK and EU leadership, and with no deal getting worryingly close for exporters.
- Sheep meat is one sector facing particularly high tariffs – put there to protect British and other European farmers, but now the UK will be outside the EU fortress.
- Even with a tariff-free deal, there will be high extra costs for animal produce going to Europe, involving certification, queues and border checks.
Remember spring? If you were lucky enough to get out to somewhere rural, you probably saw some cute lambs a-gambolling.
Well, it’s not looking good for them now. They’ve put on some weight, and are less cute. Or they were. This has been the slaughtering season.
About a third of Scottish lamb goes for export, and 98% of that is to the European Union. French chefs highly value uplands-grazed lamb.
There’s a metaphor somewhere in there for the Brexit talks.
But for sheep farmers, this isn’t metaphor. This is their future. The average tariff on sheep meat is 48%. It is not a flat rate: instead, there’s a fee per kilo and a percentage of the value.
And the more it is butchered and processed, the higher the tariff on entering the European Union.
by Douglas Fraser