Last-minute Brexit bill risks higher food prices, UK business groups warn

Last-minute Brexit bill risks higher food prices, UK business groups warn

London CNN — British business groups are warning that newly announced post-Brexit charges on plant and animal imports could push up food prices not long after food inflation came down from double-digit rates.

From April 30, UK businesses will have to pay up to £145 ($184) per delivery of most animal products, plants or plant products imported from the European Union through the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said Wednesday. The port and the undersea tunnel beneath the English Channel handle the majority of UK food imports.

Importers will have to pay £29 ($37) per type of product, up to a maximum of £145 for a single delivery containing several different products.

In practice, this means that a truck loaded with, say, a single type of meat will incur at least a £29 charge, while a same-sized truck carrying different meats, yoghurts and cheeses could incur the highest charge. And that maximum may have to be paid multiple times, depending on the truck’s origin and destination.

The charges “will be one of the factors that perhaps stops food inflation continuing to fall,” according to Tom Southall, deputy chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, which represents