Printers must brace for a rise in ink prices unless a comprehensive free trade agreement can be agreed between UK and EU officials in the coming weeks.
According to the British Coatings Federation, tariffs that would be automatically applied to imports and exports of inks, coatings and paints would increase prices immediately. Based on the global tariff system the BCF estimates that inks imported from the EU will be charged an additional £14.2 million. It says that 89% of ink imports into the country come from the EU.
In the other direction, ink producers in this country face tariffs of £11.7 million for the 52% of exports that end up in EU member states. This would make their products uncompetitive compared to most rival EU producers. The UK lacks general purpose litho makers that might switch from export to local markets, meaning that the printers will have no choice but to pay more.
The same applies to paint though as a net producer of paint, the outbound tariff increase of an estimated £29.8 million outweighs the tariff of $+£123.7 million in imports.
BCF CEO Tom Bowtrell warns: “The UK coatings sector trades heavily with the EU. If tariff-free trade is not agreed as part of an FTA then the coatings industry across Europe will see added costs of £75 million in finished products alone. The added tariff costs to raw materials are also likely to run into the tens of millions of pounds, and that will hit UK businesses harder than those on the continent.”
The federation has made its calculations from estimates based on trade with the rest of the world, applying these to a future without a negotiated trade deal. UK producers also face tariffs in raw materials coming from the EU, of up to 6%, which will further jack up costs.
The situation is perhaps even less clear for other parts of the industry. Picon has a had almost no indication of whether tariffs may be levied on machinery that is imported or exported. Currently there are no tariffs on printing machines, nor on plates, between the EU and a host of other countries, so the UK is unlikely to be singled out for the tariff treatment. However, importers will need to replace the CE certification which covers the whole of the EU with a UK Conformity Assessment to certify that equipment being imported meets health & safety and other regulations.
Chief executive Bettine Pellant says that while there may be no tariffs on finished products, there may be impositions on components that are imported, though there is some confusion: the same product described in one way may be free of a tariff, described in another way may incur a levy.
Exports will be less of an issue as UK members of Picon are used to sending machines all over the globe. “Quite a few of our members are exporting very little proportionately to Europe, so are used to seeing and filling out customers forms,” she says.
BCF members also face cost increases as the EU wide Reach register of chemical compounds that can be used to make inks and similar products will no longer apply and the UK will have its own database. There is work underway to ensure that these mirror each other, though there is no guarantee that what is allowed in the EU will be permitted in this county and vice versa.
Bowtrell adds: “The clock is ticking. We need both the EU and UK to make the necessary compromises to get a deal done. And we need that deal to be agreed as soon as possible to give businesses the time they need to prepare for the final outcome.”
