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The new "public money for public goods" regime under the British Agricultural Law, which is to replace the European CAP after Brexit, will provide farmers with funding for sustainable land use, thus helping to tackle climate change. However, there are concerns that under the new British trade policy, it will be possible to import goods of lower quality than that is required of local producers, which could jeopardize the competitiveness and viability of British agriculture.

Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said on 04/02/2020 at the Centre for European Reform that the world trade system should be innovated to reflect changes in recent decades - mostly technological advances, digitization and climate change. Hogan also stressed that the EU would seek to combat protectionism and unfair competition in the world. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reaffirmed her efforts to ensure the EU's leadership in the world, notably through the Green Deal and the transition to digitalisation. She also pointed out that the further the UK moved away from European standards and regulations, the less it would benefit from the EU single market.

Food commodity prices increased by 0.7% in January 2020 (for the fourth consecutive month) compared to December 2019, up 11.3% compared to January 2019. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Index 06/02/2020 the price of vegetable oil rose by 7% month on month, reaching a three-year high. Sugar prices increased by 5.5% since December 2019 to the highest level since December 2017. Cereal prices increased by 2.9% since December 2019 to the highest level since May 2018. Prices of milk, butter, cheese and skimmed milk powder increased by 0.9% since December 2019, which is 10.2% more than in January 2019. After eleven months of steady growth, the price of meat fell by 4% in January 2020 compared to December 2019, although it is still 14% higher than in January 2019.
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EU exports of agricultural and food products from December 2018 to November 2019 reached a record € 149.6 billion, 8.7% more than in the previous twelve months. In November 2019, exports reached € 13.43 billion, which is 7.3% more than in November 2018. By contrast, imports fell to € 9.78 billion in November 2019, which is 7.3% less than in November 2018. Imports in the 12 months to the end of November 2019 amounted to € 119.2 billion, which is 2.7% more than in the previous 12 months. The largest increases in imports in November 2019 compared to November 2018 were from China (+72%), Turkey (+59%) and Egypt (+41%). Exports dropped to the US (-9%), Hong Kong (-22%) and Libya (-32%).
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Charles Michel, President of the European Council, intensively negotiates with representatives of the member states of the agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework. Last week he met with 16 leaders of member countries, the result of the negotiations should be to secure an agreement on the budget ideally already in the upcoming European Summit, which will take place in Brussels from 20/02/2020. Charles Michel should submit a new Negobox (a document summarizing the proposal for specific financial allocations) on 10/02/2020. Last week, 15 EU Member States also confirmed the need to maintain the budget for Cohesion policy at its current level, nor should the Commission finance the 'Just Transition Fund' (part of the European Green Deal) with CAP funds. According to some Member States, a lower budget is also possible, given that there are only 27 EU Member States.