Deal or no-deal, the cost of food is going to rise for businesses and very possibly consumers. Our business correspondent @pkelso explains why ingredients we take for granted today may become a little harder to come by if there is no #Brexit deal.

A former Sainsbury's chief has warned of 'significant gaps' on supermarket shelves within a week of a no-deal Brexit.

“This represents the death knell for frictionless trade," said one business leader.

Food producers and road hauliers have warned the government that the supply of food and drink to supermarkets is “failing” due to a chronic shortage of HGV drivers.

British companies say EU customers have walked away from them because of the new red tape.

North MP Jamie Stone has accused the UK government of living in a "fantasy land" over Brexit and its impact on trade with Europe.

Ease of trading is key measure of success, say cross-channel businesses, not lack of lorry traffic.

The Government has delayed plans for a fourth time to impose further checks on EU goods entering the UK as Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted the move would cost £1bn.

Sales to Ireland, UK’s biggest market, plunge more than two-thirds.

While businesses struggle with the red tape of no-deal planning, ministers are busy with commemorative coins.

Salmon, beef, and whisky sales from the UK to the EU plummeted in January.

The figures show Brexit-related problems are structural, not "teething problems".

Trade barriers erected in Boris Johnson’s deal have cost exporters more than £1.1 billion since the start of the year, the Food and Drink Federation said.

The UK’s export market suffered a total fall of £750 million - a 75.5 per cent decline from the previous January, the FDF said.

Retailers and suppliers battling through ‘impenetrable’ red tape that has resulted in empty shelves in Northern Ireland

Food industry bosses have condemned Brexit as an “unmitigated disaster” and claimed the cost of disruption has caused some firms to shut for good.

'Food exports to EU have declined by 50 to 60 per cent in January,' one leader says.

The Food and Drink Federation has warned of extra costs for businesses and consumers due to major changes in the way in which manufacturers in the UK and EU interact at borders.

A lack of lorry drivers, abattoir staff and fruit pickers caused by Brexit is threatening both consumers’ pockets and meat such as turkeys and pigs in blankets.

First-half sales fall £2bn, says industry body, as barriers are compounded by staff shortages.

There's been a huge fall in trade between the UK and Germany during the first month of the new trading relationship between the UK and the EU.

British companies trading with Europe will have to absorb a post-Brexit bureaucracy burden and fill in an extra 215m customs declarations at a cost of about £7bn a year, according to government officials.

It comes after a former environment secretary criticised the treatment of farmers in the UK-Australia trade pact.

Almost half of food and drink manufacturers in the UK claim their competitiveness with the EU has fallen in the past year, The Grocer can reveal.

First quarter UK exports fell from £5.1bn in 2020 to £3.7bn in 2021, mainly due to new trade barriers with the EU.

Industry body says analysis of HMRC data shows structural rather than teething problems with Brexit.

Inflation is rising, worker shortages are grinding us down and consumers are hurting, but No.10 is introducing measures which will make the situation worse

Figures reveal impact of Brexit and pandemic, with £2.7bn fall blamed largely on 24% drop in sales to bloc

The Chancellor has warned there will be no alignment with EU regulations after Brexit - despite a pledge being made in the North East by Boris Johnson that standards would be protected.

The government’s new trade strategy, the Border Target Operating Model, will bring a new round of controls on goods from the EU from 31 October 2023.

HMRC figures reveal huge year-on-year falls in trade, with whisky, cheese and chocolate worst hit.

Ian Wright, who leads the Food and Drink Federation, said that things are going to get worse before they get better.

UK agriculture is highly exposed to serious diseases imported from Europe, including African swine fever (ASF), because of a failure to get new border control posts (BCPs) operational before July 2022, a senior vet has warned.

Officials responsible for UK food supply now working 24/7 despite Theresa May's push for a Brexit delay.

Food and drink supplies in the UK face more disruption after the end of the Brexit transition period than they did from Covid, the industry has said.

A government minister has criticised businesses for taking a "head in the sand approach" when preparing for post-Brexit trade.

On trade, finance, migration, food standards and more, the UK suffers fresh ignominy on a daily basis.

Food and drink companies are set to quit Northern Ireland en masse because of "the added cost, complexity and trade friction" of doing business after Brexit, Boris Johnson's government has been told.

Labour said the revelations "blow apart" the "myth" that UK-EU trade disruption is a temporary problem.

The UK food industry is warning that a deluge of new post-Brexit red tape which comes into effect today will increase export paperwork by a third and make some sales to Europe unviable.

The head of the Food and Drink Federation said post-Brexit arrangements were having a major impact on the sector.

Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, voiced his concerns. / A leading figure from the food and drink industry has said he is “absolutely terrified” about the impact of a no-deal Brexit if it leads to the imposition of tariffs on trade with the EU.

The UK food industry has asked the government to waive aspects of competition law to allow firms to co-ordinate and direct supplies with each other after a no-deal Brexit.

Ministers considering ‘lighter touch’ regime to avoid disruption to supplies from bloc.

Lord Frost, Boris Johnson’s Brexit minister, is reportedly considering allowing “lighter touch” controls on imports from 1 April.

THE boss of the Food and Drink Federation has said that the days when UK consumers could expect to pick up nearly whatever product they want whenever they want from supermarket shelves are "over".

Food industry trade bodies are discussing whether to take legal action against the government over post-Brexit plans that will require all meat and dairy products sold in the UK to be labelled as “not for EU”.

‘In two years’ time you are all going to realise Brexit was bigger news than Covid,’ warns Justin King.

Brexit survey by Food and Drink Federation confirms fears of retailers and DUP.

Heinz's announcement that it was to start making ketchup in the UK again was widely hailed, but the UK's post-Brexit food and drink manufacturing sector still faces stern challenges.

Major trade bodies say they have been stopped from telling member companies about plans for customs and trade. / "We are collectively of the opinion that members are not ready for a no-deal exit on March 29."

Shortage caused by Brexit and the pandemic, Road Haulage Association says.

Food and drink firms are seeing "terrifying" price rises, a sector trade body has said, warning of a knock-on effect for consumers.

De facto deputy PM says nearly all EU imports will be subject to checks from next year.

The UK’s milk and cream exports to the EU have dropped by 96% ‘because of the post-Brexit trade deal’s red tape’, new figures show.

Could take ‘decades’ to shift away from reliance on overseas staff, say food sector leaders attending Downing Street summit.

Industry chiefs and experts tell i the introduction of customs controls could also affect small businesses, some of which could be forced to pay tariffs.

Labour says the government "fiddling while Rome burns" as business groups complain they were ignored.

Industry draws link between politicians’ talk of crashing out of EU and firms losing clients. / A no-deal Brexit will be “commercial suicide” with tens of thousands of jobs already lost in the UK because of the political uncertainty, manufacturing representatives have said.

Almost one in five (18%) have said they are less likely to buy products labelled “Not for EU” which will be a requirement on all British meat and dairy produce from October 2024.

An Opinium poll also found that 42% of people who voted Leave in 2016 had a negative view of how it had turned out.

Forcing all UK supermarkets to put “not for EU” labels on meat, dairy and plant products in a move to assuage the concerns of unionists in Northern Ireland will force up prices and undermine the war against inflation, ministers have been told.

British rice milling industry faces wipe-out from part of a trade deal being discussed with India. First proposed by Boris Johnson, it is also predicted to raise consumer food prices and break UK limits on pesticides.

New barriers to the UK's trade with the European Union are set to cost British meat businesses an extra £120m a year and result in some traders losing 50% of their exports to the continent, a leading industry body has warned.

"Rules of origin are the complex requirements that determine whether or not a product is produced ‘locally’ in the UK or the EU – its economic nationality. If it is not deemed to be sufficiently British, it may not qualify for these preferential tariff rates"

Food and Drink Federation pleads with Boris Johnson to ‘urgently’ restarts talks to resolve the crisis.

Salmon exports fell 98% in January from year-earlier period. / Sales to Germany, Ireland, Italy down by more than 80%: FDF.

Many Scottish food and drink suppliers plan to decrease or stop exports to the EU amid the regulatory fallout from Brexit, an industry survey suggests.

SOME of Scotland’s most important exports have seen costly reductions in sales to other countries, research has revealed.

SCRAPPING post-Brexit “not for EU” labelling on food and copying Scottish Government funding for suppliers are two key recommendations for the UK Government in a major new “manifesto” from a top industry body.

Food has experienced a bit of a political renaissance as a result of Brexit. Farmers, workers in the food system, retailers and everyone who eats; all have been uneasy over the real risk that Brexit would negatively impact on our food system.

The UK food industry said the main impact of such a departure from the bloc will be on fresh produce, such as fruit and vegetables, which cannot be stockpiled by retailers or consumers and are largely imported from the EU during the winter months.

JAMES BALL examines the areas where Britain is now feeling the painful consequences of its departure from the EU.

Export values of chocolate from the UK to the EU have fallen significantly from 2019 to 2021, with figures down 36.9%

Country Milk’s trade with the EU has nosedived with the dairy industry particularly badly affected by new customs rules

Export health certificates on food from the EU will now only be needed from July 1 next year - instead of October 1 under previous plans - after a crisis of lost lorry drivers and empty shelves.

The latest Food and Drink Federation (FDF) trade snapshot in the UK has made for sobering reading, revealing that export trade with our nearest neighbours across market segments was down by 13.1% against figures from three years ago, at £20.2 billion.

Industry bosses call for measures to bring back Eastern European drivers after Covid and Brexit worsen a long-running shortage.

Loss of 100,000 hauliers due to Covid and Brexit will cause food ‘rolling power cuts’, experts warn

HMRC figures released by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) have revealed a significant fall in food and drink exports to the European Union (EU) and other international markets in the wake of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

Food and drink exports from the UK have plummeted due to a sharp drop in trade with the EU after Brexit, according to fresh research published today.

Sales to Germany, Spain and Italy all dropped by more than a third in the past year.

UK food and drink exports to the European Union almost halved in the first three months of the year, compared with the same period in 2020.

Sharp fall in qualified professionals needed to sign off health certificates for products going to EU.

UK food and drink exports to the European Union dropped by 75% in January, the first month of life outside the EU’s single market, according to data published by the UK’s Food and Drink Federation.

The UK government is yet to respond to a request by the food industry to waive parts of competition law so that companies can cooperate after a no-deal Brexit to mitigate food shortages.

British food exporters are set to be hit with millions of pounds of new costs due to new EU post-Brexit bureaucracy from next month.

Exports of fish and meat from the UK to the EU saw a dramatic dip in January compared with the previous year, compounding the chaos following the end of the Brexit transition period.

There are concerns in the EU that the UK had not yet fully complied with the terms of the earlier Brexit divorce deal and stressed that “vigilance” would be required in future. / “Exports to our biggest market, Ireland, have also dropped more than two thirds." - Dominic Goudie, FDF

The Food and Drink Federation said Lord Frost's latest delay "penalises those who follow government advice".

Industry leaders fear trading will be harder and more costly without comprehensive deal.

New post-Brexit border paperwork coming into force in July is expected to cost UK food companies millions of pounds, according to a trade body.

The Food and Drink Federation said the 'Not for EU' labelling “poses significant risk to exports”, while polling has shown that Britons would be put off buying food with these stickers.

The UK’s trade agreement with Australia led to British farmers and associations voicing concerns about unfair competition and a lowering of food standards.

Dairy shipments collapse by as much as 96 per cent. Experts say extra red tape and delays are to blame.

Leaving the EU single market and customs union will bring new friction and red tape for food importers

Leaving the EU single market and customs union will bring new friction and red tape for food importers

‘With just 14 working days to go, we have no clue what’s going to happen in terms of whether we do or don’t face tariffs’

MPs were also warned that the UK could be “50,000 customs agents” short of what is needed when import regulations are enforced from April.

Delays, paperwork and additional costs are making British chocolate scarce in Europe.