Japanese companies in the UK who have moved their product distribution hub to the EU in anticipation of what is now happening. One in a long thread, just to make a point that *some* companies have been preparing for worst case Brexit for years 1/13

Allegro MicroSystems Europe, semiconductors and ICs, owned by Sanken Denki, now importing into EU via Netherlands rather than UK. Amano Enzyme Europe transferred EU stock to warehouse in EU 2/13
Anritsu EMEA (sales and service of testing and measuring solutions to communications industry) all EU deliveries now go to second transport hub in Netherlands. Audio Technica established European Distribution Centre in Netherlands for Brexit (bit of a 🇳🇱theme here) 3/13
Eisai Europe (manufactures pharmaceuticals in Hatfield) transferred centralised marketing authorizations to Frankfurt, established testing and storage facilities in Antwerp. Electric Glass Fiber holding stock in EU for Brexit 4/13
Enplas Europe (semiconductors) acquired warehousing in NL for Brexit. Fujichem Sonneborn opened warehouse in Spain for Brexit. Furukawa Electric Europe shifted warehouse and distribution to Germany. 5/13
Furuno (marine electronics) has bonded warehouse in Rotterdam, stockbuilding, obtained Ireland export license to prepare for Brexit. KIP UK (wide format printing) transferred stock to warehouse in Germany for Brexit. 6/13
Kubota transferred sales & distribution for Nordics & Baltics to Germany in 2018. Lighthouse (signing + labelling machines) set up subsidiary in NL. Margaret Howell clothing (owned by Anglobal) set up additional warehousing + accounting functions on continent for Brexit 7/13
Pentax (endoscopic products) moved Ireland distributorship moved away from UK to European HQ in Germany as Brexit contingency. Sodick Europe (electrical discharge machining) bonded warehouse in NL 8/13
One of the most well known moves - Sony Europe - turned itself into a branch of Sony Europe BV in Netherlands. Already had a warehouse there. Also built state of the art warehouse in Czech Rep in 2017 in 8 months 9/13 https://t.co/afuB19gnOE
Similarly Panasonic Europe in UK became branch of Panasonic Europe in Germany, where European distribution centre was already. This was upgraded in 2018. 10/13 https://t.co/tWTWv3uSpB
Srixon Sports Europe opened a new distribution centre in NL for Brexit. Sumi Agro Europe will use its branch in Germany for post Brexit trading. Ishida Europe (food/beverageprocessing/packaging machines) opened distribution centre in NL in 2018 11/13
Sometimes the preparations are in the UK - Tomy, Japanese toy company already had a warehouse in Belgium, so took on temporary warehousing in UK for Brexit. 12/13
None of these companies are leaving the UK entirely as yet, but note many of them have "Europe" in their company name, and most are not manufacturing in UK. UK staff will have to fight hard to keep regional HQ status in years to come. 13/13
PS: Has this meant a decline in the numbers employed? Well, the results for 2019/20 not in for all I've covered above, but for those where there are figures, seems to have been an 8% drop on average from 2015/6. Turnover grew to 2018/9 but down 2% 2019/20 on the previous year.

More from Brexit

Been waiting for 👇 🚨

Important story on what a “tariff-free” deal means in practice and why it’s not enough for two economies as closely integrated.

Tariffs are removed on goods that meet rules of origin. This is a complex and nuanced area of customs.

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Important to remember that trade deals (FTAs) weren't designed with such a high degree of economic integration in mind.

So some of the standard RoO provisions will seem incredibly restrictive under the UK-EU deal.

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Minimal operations or insufficient processing is a standard part of an FTA. Most, if not all FTAs, include a provision on minimal processing – processing not considered sufficient to confer originating status even if rules of origin have been met.

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It is standard procedure not to apply cumulation when goods have only been subject to minimal processing.

To be able to cumulate origin and consider the final product of UK origin, the processing carried out in the UK needs to exceed minimal operations.

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The level of integration between the UK and the EU means that this will have significant consequences for a number of industries.

For example, in supply chains where goods are brought into the UK from the EU and reassembled, sorted or repackaged and re-exported to ROI.

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