The European Dairy Association (EDA) have made it their main priority that the relationship between the EU and the UK remains as close as possible to the status quo throughout the transition period and after Brexit.

It comes following the development of a Future UK-EU Dairy Framework which sets out the outcomes the dairy sector hopes to achieve in the current negotiations between the UK and the EU. The document was jointly developed by Dairy UK and the EDA.

The EDA has cited the dairy crisis that was triggered by the 2014 Russian ban on imports of dairy products and the potential for Brexit to have a similar effect as the main reason for their stance.

In a statement the EDA said: “Compared to the experience of the Russian ban, Brexit has the potential to create a completely new scale of milk crisis. Volumes of EU27 butter sold in the UK are three times higher than were EU28 butter exports to Russia. For cheese, EU27 exports to the UK are twice the volumes we used to sell to Russia.”

Outlining the effects of the Russian ban it said: “Significant changes were needed in the very short-term for exports of large volumes of milk and dairy products. New markets had to be found and unlocked very rapidly. The results of sudden changes in milk price and urgent intervention by the EU Commission are adversely affecting European and global dairy markets to this day.”

The EDA has now called for the UK to remain part of, or as close as possible to, the EU Single Market and Customs Union. Additionally, a level playing fields is sought for dairy products which would require no significant divergence of regulatory standards.

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