Table 1: UK Production and Trade in Beef and Veal
Data in Thousand Tonnes Dressed Carcass Weight
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016
Source: DEFRA
small volume of imports and excludes exports. A further 7.26 million tonnes of straight feeds were used to feed livestock and 10.74 million tonnes of feedingstuffs were bought and sold by farmers on an inter- farm basis. This represents a total of 30.91 million tonnes of materials used to feed livestock with an estimated value of £4,527 million. The data for 2016 should be regarded as provisional The first aspect to be borne in mind when considering developments
in the beef and veal sector (Table 1) is that the production and trade in beef and veal was directly and massively impacted by the BSE crisis that broke in 1996. This resulted in the immediate cessation of live cattle exports, a ban that was only lifted ten years later, and also a sharp diminution of exports of carcass beef and veal. What may also be viewed as the longer-term effects of the BSE crisis is the fall in the proportion of total new beef and veal supplies originating in the UK – from the mid-ninety per cent level prior to the crisis to the mid-to-high eighties since the crisis. Unfortunately, a more precise assessment of the prospects for
UK beef and veal producers post-Brexit cannot be made in that the DEFRA data does not divide imports and exports into EU and non-EU components. It is certainly possible to surmise that Brexit will end up curbing UK imports of beef from the EU to the extent that the EU is currently a supplier of beef and veal to the UK; it will be noted that the UK has run a significant trade imbalance in terms of the difference
Table 2: UK Production and Trade in Mutton and Lamb
Data in Thousand Tonnes Dressed Carcass Weight
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016
Source: DEFRA PAGE 22 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 FEED COMPOUNDER UK Production
310.4 389.3 393.0 382.7 336.7 286.8 309.5 299.6
174.0 153.5 146.7 134.1 132.7 128.3 114.8 115.5
Imported Exported Carcass Meat
48.8 79.8
152.4 99.2 86.1 92.1 82.8 81.7
Exported Live
7.3
19.6 31.5 25.8 7.5
10.0 8.0 9.3
Total New Supply
428.4 443.4 355.9 391.9 375.8 313.1 333.5 324.1
UK Production as Percentage of Supply
72.5 87.8
110.4 97.7 89.6 91.6 92.8 92.4
Trade Balance
-118.0 -54.1 37.2 -9.1
-39.1 -26.3 -24.0 -24.6
between imports and exports. However, it would also seem likely that the UK might become a substantial importer of beef and veal from non-EU countries, for example, renewing its ties with that traditional supplier of beef and veal to the UK market, Argentina. Mutton and lamb imports (Table 2) reflect the traditional
dependence of the UK on imports from New Zealand and the UK continues to run a small deficit on trade in these products, although the deficit is less than it was in the eighties and early nineties, following the expansion of the UK sheep and lamb sector. It seems highly likely that this pattern will continue following Brexit. There is a substantial export trade in carcass meat, notably to France where an economically significant part of the market confers high value on British lamb. Nevertheless, the UK still relies on imports, with a net trade imbalance of 24,600 tonnes according to data published for 2016, the latest data available. It would seem that, following Brexit, obstacles to this trade are likely to be put in place by the EU which would seem to imply that the prospects of British exporters would be diminished. One likely outcome is that surplus UK production would be diverted back into the UK market; however, the New Zealand lobby is still in place and influential and it seems likely that UK producers and New Zealand exporters would go head-to-head in the UK’s domestic market for mutton and lamb. The pigmeat sector in the UK is the livestock sector most exposed to foreign competition, largely from the EU – and from Germany in
UK Production
1,136.9 1,002.3 1,001.6 704.5 764.8 897.4 879.8 913.4
Imported Fresh and Chilled
122.7 125.5 130.0 146.2 215.4 219.9 256.7 239.2
Imported Frozen
87.4 71.4 82.2 50.5 71.6 87.0 85.8 92.1
Exported Carcass Meat
184.7 122.3 303.3 8.8
14.4
128.8 128.4 140.5
Exported Live
13.4 21.2 31.0 - - - - -
Total New Supply
1,148.9 1,055.7 879.6 892.4
1,037.5 1,075.5 1,094.0 1,104.3
UK Production as Percentage of Supply
99.0 94.9
113.9 78.9 73.7 83.4 80.4 82.7
Trade Balance
-11.9 -53.4 122.0 -187.9 -272.6 -178.1 -214.1 -190.9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
