The frequent bad news about the development of the negotiations at the highest level is a cause of growing concern for Spanish fresh fruit and vegetable exporters, considering the importance of the United Kingdom for the Spanish sector. In 2017, fruit and vegetable shipments to this destination were worth 1,711 million Euro; 13% of the total. This makes the UK the third most important destination market.
FEPEX believes that the contingency plans being adopted by the companies will not be sufficiently effective to deal with the disturbances that the lack of agreement may cause. Therefore, the competent administrations will be asked to adopt contingency plans to prevent potential border controls and phytosanitary measures from negatively affecting the logistics process, as well as to effectively deal with the distortions that may occur in the EU markets.
There is also concern in the sector for the possible behaviour of the British market, which may be giving a boost to the national production and introducing policies for the replacement of imports. In recent years, the UK's fruit and vegetable production, both in the open ground and in greenhouses, has been promoted and a growing trend has been observed.
The uncertainty created by Brexit and the devaluation of the pound sterling have caused the Spanish export of fruits and vegetables to the United Kingdom to fall by 4% in terms volume and by 3% in terms value in 2017 compared to 2016; a negative trend that has continued in the first semester of 2018, in which Spanish exports have fallen by 2% in terms of volume compared to the same period of 2017.
