UK: 1/3 fruit and vegetables from the EU, alarm on the shelves.

Fresh Apple

United Kingdom

Innovation & Technology

Ricardo Lopes

Published Dec 22, 2020

About 1/3 of the fruit and vegetables consumed by the British comes from European Union countries that have adopted restrictive measures by blocking land transport, ferries and flights. This is what emerges from an analysis by Coldiretti (Italy) disclosed in reference to the emergency generated by the new English variant of Covid with the development of a plan between France and the United Kingdom to unblock the situation. In the United Kingdom they produce - explains Coldiretti - just 11% of the fruit and 42% of the vegetables consumed annually by the British who are forced to a heavy dependence on foreign countries that even rises to 100% in the case of oranges, to 80. % for tomatoes and 69% for apples.

Transport difficulties in addition to causing delays put perishable products such as fruit and vegetables at risk, with concerns for many European countries starting from Italy, from which Great Britain imports reached 258 M€ in 2019, a value that has remained almost stable this year despite Brexit tensions. For fruit, apples, kiwis and table grapes are at the top of the ranking of the best-selling Made in Italy products.

The transport difficulties actually affect the entire Made in Italy agri-food sector with a value of overseas exports of over 9.3 M€ per day in Great Britain, which is in fourth place among the commercial partners of Italy for food and drinks after Germany, France and the United States.

Overall, Italian agri-food exports to Great Britain are slightly increasing also in 2020 despite the difficulties generated by the pandemic due to the tendency to accumulate stocks and avoid - underlines Coldiretti - the arrival of duties and administrative and customs obstacles due to Brexit. If overall Italian agri-food exports reached a value of over 3.4 billion euros in 2019 after wine, which overall had a turnover on the English market of almost 771 M€, driven by Prosecco Dop, in second place among Italian agri-food products the best sellers are - continues Coldiretti - tomato derivatives, but the role of pasta, cheeses and olive oil is also important. Also important - concludes Coldiretti - is the flow of Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano for a value of around 85 M€.