Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation to work on sub-group to identify specific problems.
According to the British Government, the Scottish Seafood Exports Taskforce meeting on Friday heard that EU/UK export bureaucracy is now being cut.
The industry has experienced disruption of exports into the EU, mainly to France, after the UK left the EU on the 31st of December.
The second meeting brought together key industry figures with ministerial and official representatives of the UK Government. The Scottish Government was represented both by officials and Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy Fergus Ewing. The Scottish Salmon Farmers Association also attended.
“EU red tape that has been creating delays to seafood industry exports from the UK is being cut,” the UK Government said.
UK Fisheries Minister Victoria Prentis said the government is “ensuring exports keep flowing and are fixing issues such as the same information being entered multiple times”.
UK Government Minister for Scotland David Duguid said he has “instigated specialist work to map the seafood process from catch to customer”.
“The idea is to identify and then eliminate choke points that have arisen across the supply chains,” said Duguid.
Duguid added that the “focus was on efficiency and costs”. “It was helpful to hear from Tavish Scott, CEO of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, who has agreed to head a working sub-group that will drill down into specific areas where the industry tells us it is facing problems,” he said.
Prior to the meeting, the SSPO wrote that post-Brexit export problems had, to date, cost Scotland’s salmon farmers GBP 11 million.
