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Brexit: EU trade deal 'important for shoppers too'

Getty Images Fresh produce in a supermarketGetty Images
The price of anything imported from EU countries could immediately go up, a manufacturer says

A free trade deal is important for shoppers and businesses alike, a manufacturing employer has said.

Gareth Jenkins, boss of FSG Tool and Die, which employs 97 people, said not having a Brexit deal would mean a tax is added on to his exports to the EU.

Similarly, a tariff or "tax" would be added to the everyday things people buy, he added.

"People have had 10 months of the pandemic, who wants a price rise?" Mr Jenkins said.

Downing Street said it would "explore all routes" to a deal before the 31 December deadline, despite time being "short".

But points of contention, such as fishing rights, remain in UK-EU trade talks.

FSG, in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf, makes machines for car companies, the food and drink industry and pharmaceutical industry and exports to 19 European countries.

Mr Jenkins said: "This country has been a massive importer for decades and if you look at the stuff that we buy... fruit, vegetables, food, whatever, look at how much actually comes in from overseas.

"Now in a trade arrangement where there's a tariff that price will go up, it will go up straight away. Nobody likes a tax rise and now is really not the time."

Gareth Jenkins
Gareth Jenkins says a no-deal Brexit will affect everyone

Since the European Single Market was set up, all sorts of products have moved freely between different customers and different customers across Europe.

How much does Wales export to the EU?

Last year, exports from Wales across the world were worth nearly £18bn.

Nearly two-thirds were sold to customers in the EU - a higher proportion than from the UK as a whole.

The largest proportion of Welsh exports, 17%, went to customers in Germany and products that dominated exports were machines and transport equipment.

Richard Hyde
Richard Hyde says tariffs on Welsh lamb could be catastrophic for the sheep industry in Wales

Lamb is another important export for Wales, with lamb meat worth more than £120m sold abroad each year - 90% of that to customers in the EU.

It is expected different cuts of meat would attract different levels of tariffs, with some having a tariff of 70% added if exported into the EU.

Richard Hyde, an auctioneer with Sunderlands which runs livestock auctions at Talgarth and Builth Wells, Powys, believes farmers will bear the brunt of the lamb tariffs, which would be "catastrophic".

He added: "That export trade is fundamental. Europe needs that sheep meat and we have it, and we can provide a wonderful product."