In the Wallace and Gromit short “A Grand Day Out,” the duo went to the moon just for a bit of Wensleydale. This year, a slab of the historic British cheese might be even harder to source if you’re a Canadian.
Driving the news: Prices for British cheese are set to skyrocket after a temporary trade arrangement that allowed for robust tax-free cheese imports from the UK expired.
Catch-up: Since leaving the EU, Britain has tried to strike a free trade deal with Canada, which would include new rules about cheese trade. In the interim, the two sides had agreed to a deal keeping cheese import rules the same, but Canada declined to renew it for 2024.
To protect domestic dairy producers, Canada sets strict quotas for how much foreign cheese buyers can import tax-free. These quotas have often upset Canada’s trade partners.
Now, the UK has to export cheese under a separate quota governing non-EU countries — 95% of which is spoken for, leaving only 5% for the UK to access. Any cheese imports that fall outside this meagre allotment will be subject to a whopping 245% tax.
Why it matters: For cheese lovers, this news reeks more than a slice of Stinking Bishop. A 245% tax would add an extra £50 to every kilo of cheese shipped from the UK to Canada, making it too expensive for many cheese makers to export the UK’s finest cheddars and stiltons.
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This all comes after demand for British cheese increased by 11% last year. While Canadian sellers have stocked up, their supplies are expected to run dry by spring.
Yes, but: British cheese may be left in the cold, but European cheese is more bountiful than ever. Canada has increased its annual quota of tax-free retail cheese imports from the EU to a current maximum of 16 million kilograms. That’s a lot of brie and manchego.
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