British food and drink exports to the European Union have collapsed by more than a third since Brexit, according to analysis reported by The Guardian. The contraction, which exceeds 33%, marks one of the steepest sustained declines in a trade relationship that once carried the bulk of the UK's agri-food sales abroad.

The finding quantifies what UK producers, hauliers and hospitality suppliers have reported anecdotally since the UK left the EU single market and customs union. The EU had been, and remains, the largest destination for British food and drink. A fall of this scale therefore removes billions of pounds in annual sales from the sector rather than shifting marginal volumes.

What does the collapse mean in practice?

A decline of more than a third is not a rounding error. It means that for every three units of food and drink British firms sold into the EU before Brexit, roughly one no longer finds a buyer there. The drop spans the period since the UK's departure from the EU's trading arrangements, which took full effect for goods at the start of 2021.

For operators, the mechanism is well understood. Post-Brexit trade introduced:

• customs declarations on every consignment crossing the UK-EU border;
• sanitary and phytosanitary checks, including veterinary certificates and health marks for animal products;
• rules-of-origin paperwork for goods with cross-border ingredients;
• border control post inspections that add time and cost to perishable loads.

Each step adds cost. For chilled goods, fresh produce and live shellfish, added hours at borders can render a shipment unsellable. Exporters of small volumes have frequently judged the paperwork uneconomic and stopped shipping altogether. That withdrawal, repeated across hundreds of small and mid-sized producers, compounds into the aggregate collapse The Guardian's analysis records.

Who carries the loss?

The burden falls unevenly. Large multinationals can absorb compliance departments and consolidate loads. Smaller cheesemakers, fishermen, meat processors and drinks producers operate on margins that do not support full-time export administration. UK hospitality groups sourcing British-branded product for EU outlets face the same friction in reverse.

The loss also registers on the EU side. European distributors, retailers and restaurant groups that stocked British products have either replaced them with domestic or third-country supply or passed higher costs to consumers. Trade in both directions now carries friction that did not exist before 2021, and the export data shows which side of the Channel has borne the larger measurable hit.

What happens next?

The figures land amid continuing political argument over the UK-EU trading relationship, including unresolved questions over veterinary agreements and border checks on EU imports entering Britain. Any move to reduce sanitary and phytosanitary friction would directly target the cost stack driving this contraction.

Producers and trade bodies will press for eased arrangements as the data circulates. Without them, the more-than-one-third fall recorded since Brexit sets the new baseline, and recovery will depend on firms rebuilding EU routes to market one certification and one consolidated load at a time.