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Supermarkets in Northern Ireland risk pulling out due to Brexit... story w/ @DeirdreHipwell 1/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-04/northern-ireland-faces-brexit-food-time-bomb-on-new-paperwork?sref=yMmXm5Iy
The problem is this dotted line in the Irish Sea. It means food crossing from GB to NI must comply with EU customs rules. This was the deal done to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-02/u-k-sets-out-new-red-tape-for-post-brexit-trade-over-irish-sea?sref=yMmXm5Iy 2/
This is where it gets expensive. Products of animal origin (e.g. swathes of food brought into NI each year) will need export health certificates, which cost ~£200 per product line. A cold truck typically carries 200 different lines - so that's £40,000 extra cost per truck 3/
The EU has repeatedly said it expects Northern Ireland to uphold the integrity of the rules of the EU market, as was agreed by Johnson. And it says it won't go easy on customs controls 4/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-18/eu-says-it-won-t-ease-customs-controls-on-u-k-after-brexit?sref=yMmXm5Iy
For retailers like Tesco and M&S, this is an urgent problem. Much of their food in NI stores comes from GB, and will be hit by this paperwork. With industry margins razor thin, suddenly the model looks very vulnerable 5/
`This is a potential total and utter cataclysmic disaster for the Northern Irish economy and consumers,' says @ShoreCapital analyst Clive Black. `The viability of the grocery industry in Northern Ireland is now in question' 6/
See the full story on Bloomberg - with analysis from @MichaelAodhan, director of the NI branch of @the_brc, plus comments from Tesco and M&S (ends) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-04/northern-ireland-faces-brexit-food-time-bomb-on-new-paperwork?sref=yMmXm5Iy
