Cheese Market Access: Canada

Nusrat Ghani Excerpts

Monday 8th January 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Industry and Economic Security (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Under the UK-Canada trade continuity agreement, the UK agreed a time-limited market access arrangement on cheese, guaranteeing ongoing access to the EU portion of Canada’s WTO cheese tariff rate quota for three years. UK access to the EU portion of Canada’s WTO cheese TRQ for tariff-free access expired on 31 December. Going forward, imports will need to take place under the reserve for non-EU sources.

Over the last six months, UK negotiators have made multiple efforts to retain our access to Canada’s dairy market. We were unable to reach an agreement due to Canada’s insistence on UK concessions that would not have been in the interest of our agricultural sector.

The Departments for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Business and Trade have been engaging for several months with stakeholders that will be impacted by these arrangements, at both senior official and ministerial level. We will continue this engagement to ensure a smooth transition for business to the rest-of-world pool. Further information for businesses is available on www.gov.uk.

While this development is disappointing, it comes following an increase in the UK’s total diary exports. According to UK overseas trade in goods statistics: October 2023, UK dairy exports grew by 13.7% between 2018 and 2022, from £1.8 billion to £2 billion in current prices. In addition, other agricultural exports such as beef and pork increased significantly over the same period, by 25.1% and 15.3% respectively, in current prices.

Working jointly with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, officials are also supporting dairy producers through a range of avenues, such as through the Dairy Export Programme, which is the result of the £1 million committed by the Prime Minister to boost UK dairy exports, especially among SMEs. The programme was agreed following consultations with UK dairy businesses and industry bodies. It is UK-wide and designed to unlock new opportunities for our dairy exports in growth markets around the world.

The Government are determined that any agreement must work for consumers, producers, investors, and businesses alike. We remain committed to upholding our high environmental, labour, public health, food safety and animal welfare standards.

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