Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 31 BREXIT FOCUS “It might be more of an issue for the customer, who won’t be used to the extra paperwork and what to do with it and the extra costs involved in processing it. at could put us at a competitive disadvantage.” At home, decisions around what to do with planting potato crops for seed in 2021 were challenging with the uncertainty, he pointed out. “Is equivalency going to be agreed before we put seed in the ground, or if not, before we need to shift the seed at the beginning of 2022? is is a key risk versus reward discussion. “On top of that there are a number of EU speci c varieties grown in the UK, and the same applies to these. ere is also the loss of access to secondary markets. e signi cant North Africa seed export markets are di cult markets to hit in terms of skin nish and quality, but we always had secondary markets in the EU where we have customers happy to accept a slightly less high-quality product. at will disappear if there is no third country equivalence, so we need to make plans accordingly to managing that risk.” What about Northern Ireland? e same situation as exporting to the EU would also apply to Northern Ireland, Emily said. “ e island of Ireland is being treated as a single phytosanitary zone, so from a plant health perspective it will have the same controls on it as any exports moving from GB into the EU.” Movements from Northern Ireland into GB would have unfettered marketed access, and should be able to move freely, she added. “But there will be some added safeguards around biosecurity.” Potential tari s in event of no-deal Sector EU tari rate UK tari rate Seed potatoes 4.5% 4.0% New potatoes 9.6% (1 Jan-15 May) 13.4% (16 May-30 June) 8.0% Other potatoes 11.5% 10% Frozen potatoes (includ- ing pre-cooked) 14.4% 14.0% Other frozen processed potatoes 17.6% 16.0% Crisped potatoes 14.1% 14.0% Other processed potato products 14.1% 14.0% ➜ Tania Gesto-Casas Alice Bailey David Eudall Patrick Hughes Sarah Baker