Post-Brexit checks will raise price of Christmas trees, warn importers

Every year hundreds of thousands of Christmas trees make the journey into the UK to take pride of place in living rooms across the country.

- Jack Simpson

But this year they face a new hurdle - demanding post-Brexit checks on plants coming in from the EU that importers are warning will increase costs for sellers and are likely to push up prices for consumers.

"The main difference is that before January the bulk of trees imported didn't require health certificates. Now all the trees do," says Kasper Kortegaard, the managing director of Kortegaard, a Danish-based Christmas tree wholesaler.

"We've gone from being able to trade between the EU and the UK without any paperwork apart from an invoice to having to have customs declarations and now phytosanitary certificates etc."

Under the border system introduced this year, plants deemed high risk, which include nearly all Christmas trees, require inspection in the country of origin, a clean bill of health - known as a phytosanitary certificate - and British officials to be notified with the details before they can enter.