The Balearic Islands have asked the United Kingdom not to let Brexit affect Mallorcan potato exports, according to a report by Majorca Daily Bulletin. The Head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, Mae de Concha has written to the UK’s Agriculture Minister, George Eustice, asking him to “maintain the same conditions as before for the export of Mallorcan potatoes.”
After Brexit, potatoes were classified as a “high priority” product and “a phytosanitary certificate, documentary certification, identity control and prior notification of the importer are required to export them,” according to a Ministry of Agriculture statement. That means exporters must declare that their potatoes are free of two species of nematodes inherently found in Mallorcan fields.
Mallorcan potato represents 70% of all potato exports from Spain to the UK, according to the Director General of Agriculture, Biel Torrens. About 5,000 tons of “baby” potatoes are exported from Mallorca to the UK between March and June every year; turnover amounts to around 6 million euros and a hundred producers are employed in the industry. UK consumers have been eating Mallorcan potatoes since 1927.
Source: Marjorca Daily Bulletin. Full report here
