MED-Amin network

AFP, 22/01/2019 - Les ports français de Cherbourg, Caen/Ouistreham et Dieppe (nord-ouest) misent sur une hausse de leur trafic et vont investir 20 à 30 millions d'euros d'ici trois ans en cas de Brexit sans accord, a-t-on appris mardi auprès de Ports de Normandie, le syndicat mixte qui les gère.

The British withdrawal from the EU is expected to lead to significant changes in the UK’s trade relationships with the EU and with other countries who currently have trade agreements with the EU. This could have large impacts on the British food system and diet-related risk factors because the majority of the domestic demand, e.g. for fruits, vegetables, and some meats, is currently met by imports. Here we analyse the potential implications of Brexit for changes in agricultural trade, food consumption, and chronic disease mortality related to changes in dietary risk factors.

Whilst the precise conditions of Brexit and Britain’s future trade regime are uncertain, we show that negative health impacts related to changes in agricultural trade and national food consumption can be expected under a range of possible future trade scenarios. The mechanisms behind these estimates reflect fundamental challenges to the British food system after Brexit. With its large import dependence, in particular of fruits and vegetables, any increase in trade costs can be expected to negatively impact the availability and consumption of foods that are critical components of healthy diets and chronic-disease prevention.

By Jonathan Riley (Farmers Weekly), 15/11/2018

Maize imports, ethanol plant closures and the looming potential of a no-deal Brexit are putting pressure on wheat prices, according to grain traders.

Maize imports are up by one-third and have broken the 540,000t mark since July, HMRC figures show.

In the first three months of this year’s season (July-September 2018) the UK imported 544,000t of maize.

“Because wheat and maize purchases are already on the books, imports will continue to arrive through to next April,” Mr Bright said.

“It means we will have gone from a tight supply to an exportable surplus,” he suggested.