The UK pig industry could face delays in resuming exports to China unless the Government moves quickly to agree the conditions of post-Brexit export health certificates, AHDB has said.
AHDB strategy director Mick Sloyan warned at a recent National Pig Association (NPA) meeting that it isn't all about trade deals.
He said: “At the moment the export health certificate to China actually complies with all the health and welfare regulation under the EU.”
In order to export agricultural goods from the UK, an export health certificate is usually required.
These are frequently issued on the basis that EU sanitary, phytosanitary and veterinary standards are equivalent to UK standards.
The Government has confirmed that on the day the UK leaves the EU, it will trigger the Great Repeal Bill, which will copy all existing EU legislation into domestic UK law - including the export health certificate system.
“It sounds simple with the Great Repeal Bill – we say we adhere to the same standards and it will just say UK instead. But it isn’t.
“But that conversation will take years. It took us from 2004 to 2011 to get pork exports into China. It was a very tortuous process, so we need to start the conversation now about how we maintain that trade with China that is so important to our industry.”
Export success
Chinese exports have been one of the biggest drivers behind the UK pig price increase over the past 12 months.
The export market, which hit a 17-year high in 2016, with China the biggest destination.
“We have been doing really well in the export market,” Mr Sloyan told an NPA producer group meeting earlier this year, adding that it is currently worth an estimated £30/pig.
“What is really encouraging is that we are starting to see, not only volume growth but value growth as well. China was generally for parts of the pig we didn’t want to eat – relatively low value but high value added for us," he said.
“That is still the bulk of the market going there but we are increasingly now seeing other products – what you might call prime meat - finding its way into those markets, adding more value for the UK pig sector.”
The Asia-Pacific region could offer 'increasing opportunities' for UK pork exporters looking forward, AHDB Pork has previously said.
The Asian middle class is projected to expand rapidly over the coming years, with two thirds of the world’s middle class living in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
