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UK’s cheese market access in Canada

Under the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement (TCA), the UK agreed a time limited market access arrangement on cheese guaranteeing ongoing access to the EU portion of Canada’s WTO cheese tariff rate quota (TRQ) for 3 years. UK access to the EU portion of Canada’s WTO cheese TRQ for tariff-free access expired on 31 December. Going forward, imports will need to take place under the reserve for non-EU sources.

Over the last 6 months, UK negotiators have made multiple efforts to retain our access to Canada’s dairy market. We were unable to reach an agreement due to Canada’s insistence on UK concessions that would not have been in the interest of our agricultural sector.

The Departments for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Business and Trade have been engaging with stakeholders that will be impacted by these arrangements for several months, at both senior official and ministerial level. We will continue this engagement to ensure a smooth transition for business to the rest of world pool. Further information for businesses is available on GOV.UK.

Whilst this development is disappointing, it comes following an increase in the UK's total diary exports. According to UK overseas trade in goods statistics: October 2023 UK dairy exports grew by 13.7% between 2018 and 2022, from £1.8 billion to £2.0 billion in current prices. In addition, other agricultural exports such as beef and pork also increased significantly over the same period, 25.1% and 15.3% respectively, in current prices.

Working jointly with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, officials are also supporting dairy producers through a range of avenues. For example, the Dairy Export Programme which is the result of the £1m committed by the Prime Minister to boost UK dairy exports, especially amongst SMEs. The Programme was agreed following consultations with UK dairy businesses and industry bodies. It is UK wide and designed to unlock new opportunities for our dairy exports in growth markets around the world.

The Government is determined that any agreement must work for consumers, producers, investors, and businesses alike. We remain committed to upholding our high environmental, labour, public health, food safety and animal welfare standards.