Food and drink imports have been badly affected since 2019, with sales from the EU down nearly 11% in the nine months to September compared with pre-Covid levels.
Imports from the Netherlands (-19%), Ireland (-20.1%) and Germany (-33.1%) were the most severely affected over the last two years. With the UK due to implement its delayed import controls on products from the EU in 2022, this will further affect the cost and availability of supplies of food and drink from the EU.