Europe’s food and drink industry – the largest manufacturing industry in the EU – welcomes the announcement at yesterday’s EU-UK Summit to work towards an EU-UK Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.
Such an agreement is expected to ease current trade frictions affecting EU-UK trade in food and drink. As each other’s most important trading partners, both EU and UK food and drink manufacturers stand to benefit significantly from reduced administrative burdens, lower costs, and fewer delays at borders. This would help streamline the flow of goods and enhance the efficiency of cross-border supply chains.
With €43bn of EU food and drink exports to the UK in 2023, reducing trade barriers will help bolster the competitiveness of the EU food and drink sector. We stand ready to contribute constructively to a renewed agenda for EU-UK cooperation and look forward to engaging closely with policymakers as discussions progress.
