Trading with the UK has become much more complex. Nonetheless, plant and flower exports to the United Kingdom have been continuing without too much disruption since the 1st of January. That’s because the British are letting almost everything through without a fuss. However, chaos is still looming, like a dark cloud over the North Sea. What happens when the British do start carrying out more checks? And when they start inspecting cut flowers from the 1st of April?
Trading plants and flowers with the United Kingdom hasn’t become any easier since the 1st of January. The trade deal that the EU and the UK concluded on the 24th of December isn’t too different from a hard Brexit. The 8% import fee that would have applied in case of a no deal Brexit was mostly scrapped but exporting to the UK and importing into the UK have certainly become much more complex. Despite all the changes, the exports to the UK have been continuing without too many disruptions according to several exporters. Whether it will stay like that remains to be seen, though.
Lenient
“The expected traffic jams on the British side haven’t happened yet. We’re leaving the harbours faster than in December. The British are simply letting everything through. They don’t have enough knowledge, nor the manpower, to follow their own rules”, says Ilan van Vlies, commercial manager and Brexit expert at FM Group.
The experience of Harry Brockhoff is similar. “Luckily, the trade with the United Kingdom is currently running smoothly; exporters aren’t experiencing too many problems. That’s because the British are still taking a lenient approach, they haven’t yet started with strict inspections in England”, reports the CFO of Dutch Flower Group. (..)
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