Lights out: Brexit shuts off market for English cheese truckles

 

 

MATLOCK, England (Reuters) - An English company that has long been selling its wax-coated mini barrels of cheese directly to European consumers says it can no longer do so because of Brexit, pushing it to consider new investment in France.

 

Last year The Cheshire Cheese company sold 180,000 pounds ($247,000) worth of artisan truckles -- the traditional name for cheese shaped like a barrel -- to European Union customers, but Managing Director Simon Spurrell says that is no longer possible.

 

“That’s completely gone. At the moment we’ve had to just switch that light out,” said Spurrell, surrounded by milking cows at the company’s creamery near Matlock, northern England.

 

London and Brussels agreed a last-minute trade deal last December which averted border tariffs, but many companies, particularly smaller ones, have warned that the deal has thrown up new obstacles to trade that are killing business.

 

Spurrell can no longer sell cheese gift boxes worth around 25 pounds to the EU through his online shop because each consignment needs to be accompanied by a health certificate signed off by a vet that costs 180 pounds per consignment, regardless of size.

 

The company has therefore put on hold plans for a 1 million pound new distribution centre in Macclesfield, northern England, and is instead considering setting up its own hub in France, where it can still ship on a wholesale basis.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson argued that Britain would be free to trade globally once it had cast off the shackles of the EU and has said the bureaucratic snags are teething problems.

 

But for many companies that built up markets in the world’s biggest trading bloc during Britain’s 47-year membership, the new relationship is hitting sales and putting pressure on jobs and investment.

 

Smaller firms are bearing the brunt of the fallout, from specialist beef producers to shoe makers and fishing crews.

 

At The Cheshire Cheese Company, which sells a type of crumbly cheese first recorded over 400 years ago, recent investments in multi-lingual websites helped European online sales jump last year and they had been forecasting a 40% rise this year.

 

Spurrell thinks that the lack of an exemption from costly certificates for direct consumer sales was an oversight as negotiators rushed to seal the deal. He’s in touch with the government about the difficulties he’s facing but time is running out.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-02

 

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So whose rules say that each consignment of his cheese needs a £180 vet's certificate?

 

The UK or the EU?

 

8 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Spurrell can no longer sell cheese gift boxes worth around 25 pounds to the EU through his online shop because each consignment needs to be accompanied by a health certificate signed off by a vet that costs 180 pounds per consignment, regardless of size.

1) I hope European personal-use food exports to the UK are being subjected to the same ridiculous requirements.

2) Surely the vet could be put on retainer / bulk sign certs for all the cheeses from the same herd...

Another Brexit success.

the curd has been curbed 

This article reminds me of the Monty Python comedy sketch called "Cheese Shop."

 

 

11 minutes ago, helpisgood said:

This article reminds me of the Monty Python comedy sketch called "Cheese Shop."

 

 

...predictable I suppose... ???? 

38 minutes ago, onebir said:

I hope European personal-use food exports to the UK are being subjected to the same ridiculous requirements.

 

If they're not then they soon will be plus a lot more besides.

 

Two can play at this game.

 

Target all major imports from the EU to the UK and ramp up the paperwork requirements and certification.

 

Can you still buy French cheeses in the UK?

 

Must be that fantastic easy to negotiate free trade deal we heard so much of during the referendum that's to blame.

A risible act which seems  designed to prevent a UK company selling cheese to France.

 

No doubt the Camembert/Brie supplies are uninterrupted...

13 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

A risible act which seems  designed to prevent a UK company selling cheese to France.

I think personal-use food imports (which can't be very significant) just got left out the deal, leading to inappropriate rules designed for commercial imports  being applied.

 

Hopefully this'll get resolved without more businesses going bust &/ acrimonious negotiations etc.

14 minutes ago, onebir said:

I think personal-use food imports (which can't be very significant) just got left out the deal, leading to inappropriate rules designed for commercial imports  being applied.

 

Hopefully this'll get resolved without more businesses going bust &/ acrimonious negotiations etc.

Maybe not soon. From what I read, the EU representative has cancelled meetings with UK officials, following the decision not to grant diplomatic statute to EU diplomats.

This brexit sure is good for the uk, so easy to trade. Winning.

Rules like this work for both sides and after all, chief Muppet Boris signed the deal on behalf of "great britain".

12 minutes ago, simon43 said:

[quote]

...each consignment needs to be accompanied by a health certificate signed off by a vet that costs 180 pounds per consignment,...

[/quote]

 

Sigh..... just buy a vet stamp and forge the signature..... problem solved, 180 pounds saved...... that's what EU countries do!

Doing that and you would likely get yourself arrested... because the alternative to allowing forged documents... is that official documents can no longer be trusted and thus not accepted (blocking all trade requiring it). 

Take back control and be skint together ????

I got to the third word in the article, Reuters and knew what the whole article was about.  Hardly surprising.

Well, here we go! I wonder how many other companies will go down the drain/relocate to the EU? But Brexit is sooooo great for the UK. It’s just the beginning! 

1 hour ago, Laughing Gravy said:

I got to the third word in the article, Reuters and knew what the whole article was about.  Hardly surprising.

Of course you did, can’t have you reading stuff that contradicts your world view can we.

 

Perhaps you could help out this struggling cheese supplier, buy a couple of truckles, eat the cheese and save the wax to stuff in your ears.

 

 

17 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Of course you did, can’t have you reading stuff that contradicts your world view can we.

 

Perhaps you could help out this struggling cheese supplier, buy a couple of truckles, eat the cheese and save the wax to stuff in your ears.

 

 

 

Nice post.

14 hours ago, onebir said:

I think personal-use food imports (which can't be very significant) just got left out the deal, leading to inappropriate rules designed for commercial imports  being applied.

 

Hopefully this'll get resolved without more businesses going bust &/ acrimonious negotiations etc.

i hope u r correct that would seem the most intelligent way to solve these issues,unfortunately we see little sense in a crazy bureaocracy .look at the vaccine lunacy ,that could have killed people,they had to back off but this is a brussels small fry deal and they will not have their power rescinded on this,the only way is to stop incoming cheese from holland france etc and then itll stop when the dutch and french farmers complain about UK idiocy.it will have to come from within,that part of the structures changed.stopping truckers sandwiches wow ........stand by for more petty lunacy.is your hat the right colour? !UK is treated as a 3rd country and a competitor.....hence

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Of course you did, can’t have you reading stuff that contradicts your world view can we.

 

Perhaps you could help out this struggling cheese supplier, buy a couple of truckles, eat the cheese and save the wax to stuff in your ears.

 

 

So help me out here Chomper, are the EU countries having similar problems on exporting to the UK, in which case why aren't Reuters reporting it, i.e. or do they just want people to believe that it is a UK problem. Or are goods entering the UK without any problems, but only encountering these problems when trying to export to the EU block which might suggest that the fault lies with the EU beaurocracy. 

In which case it is 'somebody elses fault' 

17 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Another Brexit success.

No, another EU hurdle, or did you miss that fact.....

15 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Must be that fantastic easy to negotiate free trade deal we heard so much of during the referendum that's to blame.

Seems you have missed the EU's skulduggery, never mind, just keep reading, it will all come clear chap.....???? 

6 hours ago, Sujo said:

This brexit sure is good for the uk, so easy to trade. Winning.

And so great to be free, how about you.......????

4 minutes ago, transam said:

Seems you have missed the EU's skulduggery, never mind, just keep reading, it will all come clear chap.....???? 

Hardly skulduggery as all of this extra paperwork was flagged up during the Brexit campaign but was dismissed as 'Project Fear' by leavers.

4 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

Well, here we go! I wonder how many other companies will go down the drain/relocate to the EU? But Brexit is sooooo great for the UK. It’s just the beginning! 

Quite right, it's just the beginning of freedom, we look forward to our future with no shackles.... 

3 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

Hardly skulduggery as all of this extra paperwork was flagged up during the Brexit campaign but was dismissed as 'Project Fear' by leavers.

No it wasn't dismissed by anyone, nobody knew about the new regulation paperwork, we just knew we were free to run our own country. Stop making up stories.... 

22 minutes ago, vogie said:

So help me out here Chomper, are the EU countries having similar problems on exporting to the UK, in which case why aren't Reuters reporting it, i.e. or do they just want people to believe that it is a UK problem. Or are goods entering the UK without any problems, but only encountering these problems when trying to export to the EU block which might suggest that the fault lies with the EU beaurocracy. 

In which case it is 'somebody elses fault' 

I’m not sure if you twigged it yet, but the news reports opened as topics for discussion here on TVF are selected from a wide range of news reports by the forum’s administration, they are not the entirety of news reports nor indeed the entirety of news reports from Reuters.

 

I suspect the answer to your whataboutary questions could be determined by reading wider news sources, they are certainly not questions for which I owe you an answer.

20 minutes ago, transam said:

No, another EU hurdle, or did you miss that fact.....

A hurdle predicted by ‘Remainers’ and branded as ‘Project Fear’ by ‘Brexiteers’.

 

AKA ‘I told you so’ and/or ‘you were told but you wouldn’t listen’.