ukcider

Dear Nick,

ukcider is a community of 500+ people appreciative of craft cider and
perry. We claim amongst our midst a substantial minority of members
who are actively involved in the production of real cider and perry on
a small scale, and maintain the definitive online guide to good cider
outlets and cider making advice.

I’m writing to you today on behalf of ukcider to endorse the letter
which one of our members, Roy Bailey has recently sent in regarding
the 7,000 litre exemption as adopted below:

“We understand that the National Association of Cider Makers (NACM) is in support
of the EU’s proposal to get rid of the 70 hectolitres duty exemption on
cider and perry.

We believe that this would be a grave mistake of the part of the NACM,
and would be disastrous as far as craft cider makers are concerned,
leading to many of them ceasing production.

The present exemption is a valuable concession which has enabled a large
number of small cider makers to start up in recent years, unbedevilled
with the paperwork and expense attendant on paying duty. They have been
able to produce interesting and distinctive products, making use of
fruit that might otherwise go to waste, and sell their cider and perry
at a competitive price. Like the micro-brewers, they have been
instrumental in introducing new tastes and flavours which the larger
commercial producers fight shy of.

Instead of being confined to the West Country and East Anglia, cider
making is now carried on in the majority of the counties of England and
Wales, and even in Scotland.

Furthermore, many of these craft producers have sought out and rescued
rare and threatened varieties of apples and pears, grafting them and
planting new orchards which add diversity to the countryside and to the
national stock of fruit.

The brewing industry has only recently been able to enjoy a concession
similar to cider’s duty exemption in the form of Progressive Beer Duty.
This has enabled new breweries to start up, and existing ones to either
invest in new equipment or maintain competitive prices.

Rather than abolish the 70 hl concession, it should be retained and
amended so that duty is only paid on the excess over that limit when it
occurs, rather than on the whole of the production as at present. The
current arrangement penalises those producers who wish to produce
between 70 and about 140 hl per annum.

If the NACM goes ahead with its support of this EU proposal (and once
again this is a case of the EU sticking its nose into something that is
not its business) then it will only provide more ammunition for those
who believe that the NACM exists only to further the interests of the
big commercial producers, rather than of cider makers in general.

Regards,

Andy Roberts

ukcider convenor
http://ukcider.co.uk