British food exports to EU drop by '£3bn a year since Brexit'

Exports of British food to the EU have dropped by nearly £3bn a year since Brexit, a thinktank has said, with new physical and documentary checks at the border complicating trade.

- Jack Simpson

A report by the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) found the export of UK food and agricultural products to the EU had fallen by more than 16% on average across the three years since Britain left the single market, when compared with the three years before the exit. The drop equates to £2.8bn less exports a year travelling to the bloc from Britain.

The report said that, while the fall coincided with events such as the fallout from the Covid pandemic and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, trade flows between the UK and EU, particularly the export of British goods, had demonstrated no signs of returning to previous levels.