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Earlier this 12 months, Coldiretti, Italy’s nationwide farmers’ affiliation, reported that exports of Made in Italy merchandise to the UK fell by 40 p.c within the first two months following Brexit. The merchandise that have been affected by the U.Okay. eradicating itself from the European Union included meals, home equipment, clothes, equipment, metals, and “technique of transport.”
On the time, Coldiretti warned that the trade-related problems from Brexit endangered the agri-food merchandise that may’ve usually been shipped from Italy into the U.Okay., together with wine and prosecco, tomato merchandise, pasta, cured meats, olive oil, and cheeses like Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano.
Coldiretti appears to have crunched its numbers once more and has since reported that the quantity of pasta imported from Italy into the U.Okay. fell by 28 p.c throughout the first 5 months post-Brexit, whereas further virgin olive oil imports are down 13 p.c, and tomato sauce has dropped by 16 p.c throughout the identical time interval. “With Brexit, the British additionally abandon the Mediterranean weight loss program,” the company harrumphed in a statement.
The company continued, writing that Brexit-related backups on the U.Okay. borders, delays attributable to a scarcity of truck drivers, customs issues, and different problems are jeopardizing €3.4 billion ($4 billion) value of Made in Italy meals exports. Earlier than Brexit, the U.Okay. was Italy’s fourth-largest commerce companion for food and drinks, following solely Germany, France, and america.
And talking of america, Coldiretti has some points with us, too. With out actual Made in Italy merchandise on British cabinets, the company worries that the market can be flooded with counterfeit variations of every little thing from wines to cheeses. Coldiretti warned that the U.Okay. might turn into a “Malicious program” for the arrival of pretend Italian meals, and apparently the U.S. is “among the many main counterfeiters” of those merchandise.
“The British must be careful for Italian oil and parmesan with an Italian flag on the label which really comes from America,” Lorenzo Bazzana, Coldiretti’s financial officer, told The Times. “Produce pretending to be Italian is value €100 billion in gross sales a 12 months globally, double the true food and drinks coming from Italy […] Earlier than Brexit we might ask the U.Okay. to crack down on pretend Italian meals however now it’s out of the EU we can not, therefore our concern issues might flip for the more severe there.”
In July, Coldiretti lamented that the U.Okay.’s Prosecco imports fell by 9 p.c throughout the first quarter of this 12 months; in consequence, the U.Okay. is now Italy’s second-largest importer of the glowing wine, proper behind the U.S.
On the brilliant facet, the U.Okay. hasn’t had any points — but! — on the subject of importing beans from the U.S. to produce the gigantic Heinz factory in Wigan. If Heinz Beans vanished from grocery store cabinets, then British consumers would actually have an issue.
