Government inaction on impending European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is threatening to halt lucrative beef exports to the EU and create an open goal for competitor countries like New Zealand, Argentina and the US to step in and take our export market.

With a looming deadline of 1 January 2025 firmly in their sights, the UK government have done nothing to prepare for the new export requirements. In fact, anecdotal evidence suggests they are actively washing their hands of responsibility, suggesting instead that it’s up to the industry to deal with it.

What could happen?

This can’t simply be a commercial, industry-level system. It has to have the backing and weight of a government behind it and currently they are the missing link in this chain. Without government involvement it won’t be acceptable to the EU and the UK would have to cease exporting beef. That would mean 90% of the £580 million British beef export market would cease overnight.

If that happens a few consequences would follow.

It would immediately crash the price of UK livestock, putting many farmers out of business and causing long term damage to Britain’s food security.

To make domestic slaughter and processing viable, the lost export revenue (which is key to keeping down food prices) would have to be recovered from the domestic market, meaning British meat prices would likely have to rise.

What should be happening?

As all other countries inside and outside the EU are doing, the UK government needs to nominate a Competent Authority to enforce and ensure full compliance with the new regulation. In our case that’s probably Defra.

British authorities need to be talking to EU authorities to clarify the new regulations, communicate that to the industry and put the structure in place to manage compliance.

BMPA has written an urgent letter to Defra Minister Daniel Zeichner laying out a practical solution that utilises existing UK traceability systems but, crucially, requires government to play its part.

BMPA’s CEO, Nick Allen has this warning: “We’ve seen presentations from competitor countries like Argentina who have created impressive, government backed systems to comply with the new EU deforestation regulation. They’re now poised to step in from day one to supply fully compliant beef into the EU and will be more than willing to take Britain’s slice of the market.

“As a government keen on fostering growth, Labour must take this seriously. We’ve written about the need for a joined-up, collaborative approach from government in our new Meat Industry Manifesto.

“These new requirements are now part of EU law. Whether or not they choose to delay the 1 January deadline, we WILL have to comply and we WILL need government to play its part.”