A no-deal Brexit could lead to price increases of up to 45 per cent on some everyday food items according to leading British retail bodies.
Directors at British Retail Consortium gave a stark warning alongside Northern Ireland Retail Consortium and Retail Ireland, predicting increases in cost of making fresh food and drink available if top line tariffs are applied on WTO most favoured nation rules following a no-deal.
The group said they were also concerned for the cost implications of non-tariff barriers such as checks and delays, as the UK enters the one-month countdown to Brexit without any clue on its future.
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the BRC, said: “We cannot easily find an alternative to imports through Calais where there are frequent ferry sailings and the Channel tunnel. The volumes of fresh produce imported through there are enormous, for example at peak periods there are approximately 130 lorries a day passing through with just citrus fruits.”
NIRC’s Aodhán Connolly said a no-deal was “not acceptable” for consumers, which will also hit Northern Ireland first and hardest.
“A no-deal Brexit brings tariffs, customs processes, checks and costs which our industry, and Northern Ireland families in particular, cannot afford to absorb. Our households already have halfof the discretionary income of British households and less than those in the Republic of Ireland,” Connolly said.
Half of British food currently arrives through Dover, with the around 90 per cent of its fruit imported during over the course of the year, and 40 per cent of vegetables.
Thomas Burke, of Retail Ireland said retailers will see a rise in operating costs regardless of a Brexit deal or not, which cannot be absorbed by already stretched businesses, and “will have to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices”.
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