Brexit has led to an £850m fall in the value of the UK beauty industry’s exports to the EU, according to a report by a leading economics forecasting organisation.
The research, commissioned by the British Beauty Council, blamed customs delays and the increased cost of cross-border trade for putting a dampener on sales.
Oxford Economics, which wrote the report, compared exports of beauty products to the EU against those to the rest of the world and found a drop-off to the single market bloc, while sales held steady elsewhere.
The small businesses that make up much of the sector have been “disproportionately damaged” by trade barriers, the report found, while decreased availability of EU workers has caused a skills shortage.
Covid-19 has also affected the sector but the report, sponsored by brands such as L’Oréal and Space NK, identified a divergence in the performance of exports to the EU and the rest of the world.
UK exports of cosmetics and other personal care products were rising between 2010 and 2016, the year of the Brexit vote, by 3.1% and 5.3% respectively. However, exports to the EU have been in decline since then.
“Covid is not the problem, Brexit is the problem,” Millie Kendall, the chief executive of the British Beauty Council, told Bloomberg. “People have pulled out of territories.”
A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce, released earlier this week, found that 49% of UK exporters have struggled to adapt to the changes required to keep exporting as they did previously, before the UK-EU trade deal.
The BCC said a survey of 2,000 small and medium-sized exporters found that half had seen no change in the past three months, while one in four reported a decrease.
Exports continue to languish for many companies as the global economy remains under pressure, the business lobby group said, adding that the UK’s exports have been broadly static since the pandemic.
The proportion of businesses reporting a decrease in sales began to worsen in the run-up to Brexit and has remained stubbornly higher ever since, according to the report.
William Bain, the head of trade policy at the BCC, said: “The reality is if UK business is to thrive, then we must export more, it’s as simple as that. If we want to remain one of the world’s largest economies, then we need more firms selling goods and services internationally.
“The pandemic, supply chain disruption, Brexit, non-tariff trade barriers and global headwinds have all made this more difficult over the past few years.”
