Fresh garlic to see £1 removed per kilo, as fresh produce savings “fly under the radar” in media reporting
Fresh garlic imports are set to benefit from the largest single removal of import duties under the hotly anticipated autumn Budget, announced yesterday (28 October) by Chancellor John Healey.
From November, garlic will see £1 removed per kilo as part of the cost-of-living tariff suspensions.
Fresh garlic entering the UK has carried a duty of 8 per cent plus £100 per 100 kilograms, a flat charge of £1 on every kilo, regardless of what the garlic itself cost.
This makes it the heaviest tariff change to any foodstuff in the Chancellor’s package.
According to data from the World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS), the UK imports the majority of its fresh garlic from Spain and China, as well as smaller volumes from France, Ireland and the Netherlands.
While some farms such as Isle of Wight do grow domestically, this covers only a small fraction of total national consumption.
The Chancellor included over 100 products in the Budget that would have tariffs removed, including other fresh produce items heavily sold through wholesale channels to the foodservice, restaurant and independent retail sectors.
Plantains and citrus hybrids saw duty removed at 16 per cent, aubergines and gherkins at 12 per cent, other citrus fruits at 12 per cent, frozen fruit at 20 per cent, sweet peppers and capsicum at 6 per cent, figs and avocados at 4 per cent and 10 dried fruit lines at between 2 and 8 per cent.
This is despite media coverage primarily focusing on other foodstuffs which had import tariffs removed, such as baked beans, chocolate, marmalade and confectionery, according to analysis by the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA).
Wanda Goldwag, chair of the CGMA, said national media reporting had “missed fresh produce almost entirely”.
“Garlic, plantains, aubergines and gherkins are not obscure items - they are in the everyday shopping baskets of many London households, and the everyday stock-in-trade of the independent greengrocers, caterers and restaurant kitchens this market supplies,” she said.
“What matters to us is that these are wholesale lines. They reach London’s independent shops and restaurant kitchens through markets like New Covent Garden in Nine Elms, which makes the measure a good deal more significant for our part of the food chain than the headlines recognised.”
She also added that news came at fitting seasonal timing during the week leading up to Halloween.
