January 20, 2021 — Scottish Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has pressed the United Kingdom’s government to increase its support for the Scottish seafood sector as it struggles to come to terms with the challenges of trying to export products to European Union markets following the introduction of the new Brexit trade agreement on 1 January.
U.K. exporters have faced lengthy delays in transporting goods to Continental Europe due to the new customs and export certification requirements laid out by the terms of the non-tariff barriers in the trade agreement. With the COVID-19 pandemic already affecting both national and international trade, and also significantly curtailing the hospitality trade, this latest obstacle has caused considerable additional concern for those moving seafood and other perishable products, Ewing said.