Logistics UK has welcomed news that the UK and EU have finalised a draft agreement to remove border checks on food and agricultural exports, according to Air Cargo News, a response that matters to association and institute professionals as a trade body backs a trade policy outcome with its own cost analysis.

Logistics UK is the UK trade association for the logistics sector, according to Air Cargo News. 

Air Cargo News reported that Logistics UK chief executive Ben Fletcher said the EU accounts for around 40 per cent of UK exports and that a comprehensive sanitary and phytosanitary agreement is predicted to add 5.1 billion pounds a year to the UK economy.

Ben Fletcher said in a statement reported by Air Cargo News, “Our own analysis shows it could reduce export costs by up to 8% on affected agri-food goods and save between £150 and £250 per consignment.”

Fletcher said in the same statement that groupage operators would benefit in particular, because they incur charges on every consignment within the mixed loads they carry.

Air Cargo News reported that a finalised agreement would also reduce checks, paperwork and delays on agri-food and plant products moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The association’s response reflects a draft agreement whose commercial effects fall on logistics operators first.

The draft agreement is expected to take effect in mid-2027 and commits the UK to dynamic alignment with EU rules, according to Fruitnet. The BBC reported that it should remove the need for 200 pound export health certificates and 25 pound phytosanitary certificates, as published by MyJoyOnline.

British food and farm exports to the EU have fallen 22 per cent since 2018, according to government figures cited by AJP.

For the sector, a trade body that quantifies per consignment savings gives members and officials a specific figure to test as the draft moves through approval. For the sector’s groupage operators specifically, charges per consignment within mixed loads mean certificate costs multiply with every shipment.

Whether the final agreement keeps the check reductions Logistics UK cites will indicate how far trade bodies can influence trade policy outcomes with cost evidence across the sector.