THE British government and Brazil have agreed to adjusted Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs) for poultrymeat imports into Britain.
The deal reflects the volume of Brazilian poultry that entered the UK before Brexit disrupted established supply chains.
See also: Defra figures reveal record poultrymeat imports last year
The UK and EU decided on the apportionment as part of Brexit negotiations, initially agreeing that 79,000 tonnes was the UK’s share of the TRQ for the then-EU28. But Brazil successfully presented evidence to show it was actually 96,000t.
That evidence was accepted, and the change will come into effect from July.
The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) said the new agreement better matched the ‘market reality’ and would be worth more than $60m to the Brazilian market annually.
Technical negotiations
The British Poultry Council said: “Following a period of technical negotiations between the UK and Brazil in parallel with the EU under Article 28 of the World Trade Organisation on the apportionment of the TRQs to the UK and the EU after Brexit, an agreement was reached on poultry meat TRQ volumes to ensures a fair balance of quotas coming into the UK from Brazil.
“This is not a new deal, nor is it new access to the British market. This is about rebalancing the apportionment of the TRQs to reflect trade volumes between Brazil and the UK prior to EU exit.”