From our Swindon Correspondent:
From Inews
With the negotiations for a free trade deal between the UK and EU in disarray, 30 organic trade bodies have written to the UK’s negotiators urging them to strike a separate deal with Brussels to allow trade in organic goods to continue even if there is no agreement.
“If you have an organic product that is recognized as organic in the UK, but not recognized as organic in the EU, then you might have to have two sets of labels,” he told i. “That increases costs, it increases complexity, and you’re losing margin.”
OK, £225m, but what’s this actually worth? I’m even surprised there’s much trade in any food from the UK to EU. They can produce beef and cheese in Normandy, and grow tomatoes all over. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for Carrefour to get generic products like milk or vegetables shipped from the UK to me, when they can get it locally. It’s not a specialist product like Aston Martins or designing RISC processors. If there’s a competitive edge over the French, it isn’t going to be worth much.
And, they can sell the same products here. Maybe someone sells his organic Welsh lamb to a Parisian restaurant, but that’s because, including all costs, it’s more than a London one will pay. The margin could be very small.
Two sets of labels? My loaf of bread already has *one* label with a dozen or so different compliance logos. You just retool your labeller next time you’re retooling your labeller.
Abba so lutely. Everyone already has kosher and halaal stickers on their products and adding one more can’t be a major ballache.