It has been a difficult time for most factions of the United Kingdom’s seafood economy, as rising costs and inflation, alongside shrinking consumer wallets, have continued to impact sales, with the volume and value of fish sliding in retail channels.
Although these challenges are likely to persist at least through 2023, seafood and other sectors can experience some relief with the announcement of new trade deals, including the opportunity they provide for market access and more competitively priced products.
In addition to the free trade agreement (FTA) between the United Kingdom and Australia that the U.K. signed in December 2021 and expects to officially ratify in the coming weeks, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced the country will join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
This agreement is an FTA between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam, and this Indo-Pacific trade bloc will subsequently have a total GDP of GBP 11 trillion (USD 13.7 trillion, EUR 12.5 trillion).
Sunak said joining CPTPP, approved after an intensive round of talks in Vietnam in March, would put the UK “at the center of a dynamic and growing group of Pacific economies” and that “British businesses will now enjoy unparalleled access to markets from Europe to the South Pacific.”
The PM also emphasized that the United Kingdom is the first European country to join making this the biggest post-Brexit trade deal to date.
The U.K. government has estimated the bloc will be worth 15 percent of global GDP once the U.K. joins, and being part of it will boost the country’s economy by GBP 1.8 billion (USD 2.2 billion, EUR 2 billion).
More than 99 percent of U.K. goods exports to CPTPP countries will now be eligible for zero tariffs.
Scotland’s salmon sector welcomed the deal, as Scottish salmon comprised more than half of all fish and seafood exports from the country last year. It’s also the United Kingdom’s biggest single food export – out performing bakery goods, chocolate, cheese, cereals, and lamb, with overseas sales of fresh, whole salmon alone amounting to GBP 578 million (USD 719.2 million, EUR 655.6 million).
While the European Union accounted for almost 64 percent of these export sales in 2022, the sector has seen strong demand from many markets further afield.
“We welcome the U.K. government’s recognition of the vital importance of international trade for Scottish salmon,” Salmon Scotland Chief Executive Tavish Scott told SeafoodSource. “Our world-renowned product is exported to 52 countries and is increasingly popular throughout the Asia-Pacific region, so improved access to these markets should benefit our member companies.”
While encouraging from a trade relationship perspective, seafood exporters and importers probably shouldn’t expect much in the way of fast change. Seafish Head of Regulation Fiona Wright pointed out that the United Kingdom already has FTAs, or rollover deals identical to those it had when it was part of the E.U. in place with all CPTPP countries except Malaysia, considering that the Australian FTA is nearly complete. Therefore, the tariff reductions won’t have much of an impact, she said.
According to Wright, the key issue for seafood imports will be hygiene control, specifically the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), which outlines the basic rules for food safety and animal and plant health standards. Currently, this process functions on a bilateral, country-to-country basis.
“There is as yet no recognition of equivalence of SPS in the CPTPP,” Wright said.
She added, though, that it introduces cumulation, so the agreement would treat material from any of the countries in CPTPP as originating in any of the countries.This allows for more flexibility to source and process goods.
Once tariffs decrease, it’s likely the Australian seafood industry will consider exporting increased numbers of fish and shellfish to the U.K. market, according to Seafish Trade Marketing Manager Andy Gray.
“Along with some of their prawns, Patagonian toothfish, which the Australians fish for in the Antarctic Ocean, is another species that could perhaps, in due course, become more prevalent in U.K. outlets,” he said. “It is a highly regarded species for its eating quality – with firm, robust flesh. It is a species that you often see compared to wagyu beef in terms of flesh texture, etc., and it often features on the menus of many top restaurants in other parts of the world.”
Barramundi could be another species that eventually makes its mark on U.K. soil, Gray suggested.
The government’s move to participate in free trade could also provide a much-needed boost for foodservice, with member organization UKHospitality believing that it could help the industry on a number of levels.
In a statement, UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said the opportunity to strike trade deals around the world offers great opportunities for the government to further the fantastic product UKhospitality has to offer and to cement the country’s reputation as a world-leading tourist destination.
“I’m hopeful that the new deals we strike will also lower the cost of imported food and drink, which should lead to lower costs to customers,” she said.
Photo courtesy of Salma Bashir Motiwala/Shutterstock
