Now the moment has arrived: Brexit is done and we say “Goodbye Great Britain”. In the course of our internationalisation – after all, we have only recently opened an office in England – this naturally affects us. However, this issue only plays an indirect role for us in the area of substitute fuels. Our sales focus is currently on the Scandinavian region. The United Kingdom has been reliably distributing its waste volumes to these regions for energy recovery for several years now. Since the announcement of Brexit, the Scandinavian markets have become increasingly uncertain as to what will happen after an unregulated withdrawal. This in turn has played a noticeable part in our efforts. We were thus able to find a good entry into the Scandinavian markets as a second pillar.
Norman Behrens, responsible for Waste-to-Energy International, remarks: “Ultimately, I am convinced that the waste streams will continue to flow towards Scandinavia from the UK even after Brexit. But nobody knows exactly when things will calm down there and go their regular way. In these ‘uncertain times’, we definitely want to market our ‘security of supply’ service package the best we can and gain market share.
Our new colleague Dean Scanlan, responsible for the distribution of wood pellets in England, is disappointed that the UK decided to leave the EU, but hopes that a deal between the UK and EU can be reached quickly and will not deviate too much from the current terms it had as a full member. He says: “I was encouraged that the Bruening | Group wanted to open an office in the UK with all the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and take it as a real positive sign in the Group’s intentions to expand their reach within the European market. I think the UK market can play an important role within the Group’s strategy, as biomass demand in the UK continues to increase and the country does not have sufficient resources to satisfy this demand. Uncertainty creates opportunities and I believe this is what the Management felt when they decided to proceed with opening a UK office.”
He continues: “It is a real honour to be the Bruening | Group’s first UK employee and I’d like to think it’s a demonstration from the Management in the faith they have in me personally, as the easier option would have been for the Group to sit back and wait to see how Brexit affected things. I have only been an employee since the start of the year and have spent 2 weeks in Bremen already, getting acquainted with my team mates in the Pellet Department and familiarising myself with the Group’s other activities. My team mates have made me feel very welcome and a valued member of the team, so my early impression as an Englishman working within a German company has been extremely positive!”
We are curious to see how things will continue, but we are also confident that we will master the challenges that Brexit implies – there is always an opportunity in every change!