One Scottish fish exporter’s story: ‘We will come through this “” but it will take some time!’

One Scottish fish exporter’s story: ‘We will come through this “” but it will take some time!’

GT Seafoods supplies fish to both the UK and France, exporting species such as coley, ling, monkfish and hake. The French market is "very valuable to us," says Graeme Tallis, who set up the company based near Peterhead on Scotland's east coast in 2003.The UK's biggest fishing port has been bearing the brunt of post-Brexit red tape problems, with reports of blocked exports and collapsed prices. since Britain left the EU's trading structures when the transition period period ended on January 1.Exporters were on the whole about 70-80% ready for the new rules, Tallis believes, acknowledging however that some extra work was required and this has caught some by surprise. He has heard some "horrific stories" in the first week of January, with some exporters encountering long delays and fish being spoiled."If a truck has produce for multiple customers and one supplier gets the paperwork wrong, the whole lot gets stuck for ages until the problem is resolved, he says. "French customers need confidence, and that's low right now.""We were thinking out of the box early on," he adds, explaining that GT Seafoods set up its own company in Boulogne so that they could "export to ourselves" and avoid the