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Echoes of Brexit in December sheep meat export figures
Tuesday, 15 February 2022
The UK exported 7,800 tonnes of fresh/frozen primary sheep meat in December, according to data from HMRC. This was 500 tonnes more than in November, but 2,400 tonnes less than was exported in December last year.
Brexit is likely to be responsible. Sheep were brought forward in to 2020, as a mitigation against a ‘hard-Brexit’, to which the sheep sector was particularly vulnerable. This meant more volume was available to export in December 2020 than usual, and some exporters would have sent more shipments to the EU in anticipation of increased logistical difficulties following 1 January.
For 2021 as a whole, the UK exported 70,000 tonnes of fresh and frozen sheep meat, 20% less than in 2020. This reflects lower production overall, but not because the lamb crop was smaller. The 2021 crop was, and will continue to be, killed in a slightly different pattern than in 2019 and 2020, with a carry-over of around 3.9m head into 2022.
Imports of fresh/frozen sheep meat were also lower in December, at 3,900 tonnes, 23% lower than a year earlier. Imports from New Zealand, the UK main overseas supplier, were 2,100 tonnes, 34% lower than a year before. This was due to supplies constrained by coronavirus and a flock rebuild, as well as the longer-term trend of NZ exporters pivoting towards the Chinese market. A trend accelerated by tightness in the global freight market, affecting both the price and availability of refrigerated shipping containers.
Imports for the year as a whole were 46,500 tonnes, 19% less than in 2020. This is the fourth year in a row that the UK has had a material trade surplus in sheep meat. As a net exporter the international market, close by and further afield, will be of increasing importance. In 2021, exports were worth in excess of £438m, more than £37/head for each clean sheep slaughtered.
You can read more about the outlook for the sheep sector, including prospects for international trade in AHDB’s January agri-market outlook.
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