November is the “worst time” for the UK to leave the European Union , the head of one of the country’s largest procurement businesses has warned.
The period between November and April is when Britain relies heavily on the EU for food imports including fruit and vegetables, according to the managing director of catering supply business Regency Purchasing.
Alex Demetriou says Brexit on October 31 could lead to shortages of some products and higher prices for consumers.
He believes Brexit in the summer of 2020 would give the UK a better chance of sustaining itself with home-grown produce.
“The best time to leave would be June or July, when our domestic growing season peaks and we have far less reliance on imports,” he explained.
“The Government is looking to end decades of complex commercial agreements with nothing to replace them. There are also many considerations around tariffs, and in particular the trade between the UK and EU which has been tariff-free for decades."
However, Mr Demetriou admits there could also be some advantages for UK food producers after Brexit - but only if no tariffs are imposed on Britain.
He said: “With the weakening of the pound, one advantage of Brexit could be British producers selling more products to the EU.
“For example, the Netherlands had very hot weather this year and, as a result, most of their spinach crop was destroyed. The UK farmers filled this gap, which helped our producers create a better average price for their crop.
'A June or July departure would be preferable'
“There is a knock-on effect, because the more efficient our growers, the easier it is for them to supply domestic product at a lower, or more reasonable, price.”
Mr Demetriou says that if tariffs are imposed on the UK, however, this part of the market could be "destroyed or diminished" and increase domestic pricing.
The counter argument, he added, is that without products being exported, the UK will have too much produce at certain times of the year and prices will reduce.
“There remains a lot of speculation and uncertainty about how Brexit will affect Britain which is one of the reasons why some politicians are advocating that we simply get on with it and delay no further,” he said.
“But the feedback from our members within the food production sector is that a June or July departure would be preferable to leaving the EU in November.”
