What's New

The British Ports Association (BPA) has expressed alarm at the continuing failure of the UK and Scottish Governments to agree a unified approach to the establishment of Freeports (branded “greenports” by the Scottish Government) in Scotland.

The UK Government and the EU have been at odds over the Northern Ireland Protocol for most of this year with the Government’s latest move being to delay the previously agreed implementation date for some of the new border controls.

We reported earlier this week that the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) had highlighted that sales outside the EU were not balancing the losses since the UK left the Union (see Food and drink exports recovering in non-EU markets).

Sales of UK food and drink to non-EU countries were up 13%, accounting for 46.6% (£4.3 billion) of all UK food and drink exports in the first half of 2021, driven by a return to growth in China, Singapore, Australia, Japan and the Gulf region.

The Department for International Trade’s (DIT) new global trade outlook explores the long-term trends that it believes will shape the global economy and international trade in the coming decades.

The Government has set out what it describes as “a pragmatic new timetable” for introducing full import controls for goods being imported from the EU to the UK.

We reported recently that parts of the Coronavirus Act 2020 were expected to be repealed as the Government prepared to set out its latest plan for dealing with Covid-19 (see Government outlines next steps in its Covid response).

Total exports of goods, excluding precious metals, fell by £0.3 billion (1.0%) in July 2021 because of a £0.9 billion (6.5%) fall in exports to the EU; while exports to non-EU countries increased by £0.7 billion (5.0%).

We reported last month that a consultation had been launched on future engagement with business and civil society groups in the context of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) (see Engaging with business on implementation of the EU Trade Agreement).

The UK’s second quarter (Q2) 2021 port freight statistics from the Department for Transport (DfT) indicate positive signs of economic recovery despite ongoing pandemic impacts and new post-Brexit processes affecting UK-EU traffic.