To safeguard the Scottish seed potato sector, the UK Government is being urged to ensure there is no interruption to trade with major buyers, including Egypt and Morocco.

Leaving the EU will mean that the UK will need to have new agreements with third countries, to ensure that trade is not halted. This would be a disaster for the seed potato sector, which is very heavily reliant on exports out of the EU.

This has been echoed by Peter Loggie, crops policy manager at NFUS

“It is imperative for Scotland’s seed potato sector that the Government is ready to act to get a trade deal with third countries. It is vital that there is no interruption to trade with major overseas buyers like Morocco and Egypt. We agree with the Government’s intention to negotiate post-Brexit trade arrangements in parcel with EU talks.”

Egypt currently offers tariff-free access to all seed potatoes from the EU, while it gains access to the EU for 250,000t of ware potatoes coming mainly in the first quarter of the year, when new potato supply in the EU is low. Scotland currently exports nearly 95% of the EU’s seed potatoes, with the bulk ending up in North Africa.

The Scottish potato sector is worth up to £200m.