Decision to manufacture in Europe is ‘direct result’ of Brexit says bait exporter

One of the UK’s leading exporters of bait to Europe says that its decision to grant a manufacturing licence to a Dutch company is a direct result of Brexit.

The Donald Cooke Group revealed this month that it has granted a licence to Pro-Line Carp Products to produce bait for its Bait-Tech and Rod Hutchinson brands. Its director, Andrew Cooke (pictured), told Angling International: “Brexit has made extra demands on the paperwork for products coming in and going out, making it virtually impossible for us to export. We have already lost nearly a month of trading.

“We pretty quickly came to the decision that the supply model we had in place before the UK left the EU would not work in the new world order. The paperwork and extra fees required to get product across to Europe would cause some baits to become uncompetitive and impossible to sell. We could have moved production over there, but we felt it was not a viable option.”

As a supplier of fish, animal and petfood products, Donald Cooke already had business links with Pro-Line Carp Products. “It is a natural fit for us. It is a reliable company that is ambitious and expanding,” said Cooke He added that Pro-Line is expected to start production of its Bait-Tech products in March, enabling it to deliver an improved service to its customers all over Europe, including France, Germany, Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Alongside the extra demands caused by the paperwork, Andrew Cooke said that the company had encountered problems getting product through the ports. ‘It’s a fiasco. We have had some product stranded for as long as a week at the ports because of perceived paperwork difficulties. In the latest incident we had complied with all the requirements, but two words were missing and the authorities refused to allow it through.”