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The EU should allow vital concessions like zero tariffs in a spirit of generosity during trade talks, retailers in Northern Ireland said.<\/p>\nThe EU should allow vital concessions like zero tariffs in a spirit of generosity during trade talks, retailers in Northern Ireland said.<\/p>\n
Higher costs and less availability will hit the region hardest unless extra measures are taken mitigating the effects of Brexit, the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium (NIRC), which represents larger businesses, said.<\/p>\n
It urged the UK Government to establish import and export processes and all necessary infrastructure now.<\/p>\n
Director Aodhan Connolly said: \u201cWe need the UK government to work with us to deliver key mitigations that could reduce the impact on consumers and retailers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we need a generosity of spirit from the EU to allow these mitigations to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lobby group called for pragmatic solutions on compliance and regulatory checks that will apply from January 2021 once the Brexit transition period ends.<\/p>\n
Almost 80% of all the food that UK retailers import comes from the EU, making the negotiations particularly important for such essentials, traders said.<\/p>\n
Mr Connolly added: \u201cWithout the mitigations recommended within this report, there will be higher costs and less availability for Northern Ireland consumers and this will hit us hardest.<\/p>\n
“We already have half of the discretionary income of Great British households and so our households in Northern Ireland simply can\u2019t afford these costs rises.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are talking about costs that have simply never been there before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a simple equation that if the new costs are higher than the profit margin then either the product or that particular business model needs to change or becomes unviable.<\/p>\n
“We also already have between 12 and 18 hours\u2019 less shelf life on some products than shops in Great Britain due to our geographical location. Any further delays affects availability.”<\/p>\n