Egg producers hail Government tariff proposals
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) have joined with the BEIC in welcoming the UK’s Global Tariff Policy (UKGTP) announcement on 19 May.
The move would help prevent cheaper imports of lesser quality undermining British egg farming, they claimed, echoing the views of many in the industry immediately after the Government announcement was made. However, they stressed the next stage was ensuring this was not watered down in bilateral trade agreements with the US and other countries.
Egg industry 'will continue to be protected'
Speaking on behalf of the coalition of BEIC, CIWF and RSPCA, BEIC chief executive Mark Williams said: “This is excellent news and is what we have collectively lobbied extremely hard for. The UK egg industry, but more importantly British consumers, will continue to be protected by import tariffs on all our tariff lines.
“The UKGTP has shown that the Government has listened to all our arguments, which we supported with strong economic evidence, of the likely consequences for our industry if they did not retain import tariffs. We are delighted that they concluded that the UK egg industry should continue to be protected against imports produced to lower standards.
“We will not be complacent however, and will be keeping a close eye on the Trade Bill that is currently working its way through Parliament, along with the bilateral trade negotiations with countries such as the US, to ensure these tariffs are not removed or reduced.”
