Full coverage: G20 Hangzhou Summit

One of the key talking points at the G20 Summit will be Britain’s vote to leave the European Union - and its impact on the wider global economy. That's as the world's markets await signs of what Brexit will turn out to mean in the long run. Elena Casas reports from Brussels.

Tony Derwael’s family have been exporting Conference pears to Britain for over 50 years. Britain loves pears so much it imports 80 thousand tonnes of them a year from the EU - but once it’s no longer part of the European single market, that trade is likely to be hit by tariffs.

Tony Derwael said, “We also deal with Switzerland and Norway, who are outside the community, so there’s an import tax, and now the product for the English consumer will also get more expensive.”

These pears cost twice as much in Switzerland as they do inside the single market.

"Britain eats five times as many pears like this as it grows, making it a crucial export market for European agriculture. But it does mean that after Brexit, cheap fruit like this could be a thing of the past in British supermarkets," said Elena Casas.

Of course British shops might respond to a price rise by buying pears from somewhere else - and that’s a key argument for Brexit supporters, who say other EU countries will back tariff free trade with Britain, to avoid hitting their own exports.
But analysts point out Britain will need to reach new agreements with every one of its trading partners - who have little incentive to give Britain better terms outside the single market.

“If all the products are getting more expensive, the consumer cannot choose, so I’m afraid the first victim will be the consumer,” Derwael said.

G20 nations outside Europe will be waiting to see what Britain’s future trade relationship with the EU looks like before they strike their own trade deals - and those talks won’t even start until at least the beginning of next year. That uncertainty hasn’t yet hit the wider global economy too hard - largely because the Bank of England jumped in to prevent stocks from crashing.

Arthur Brunner, a bond trader of ICB bank, said, “They are using all the tricks in the book, the way the European Central Bank did in the euro zone. That means dropping the interest rate and printing money through buying bonds. For European markets this means more cheap money from the central banks, and we can clearly see the effect of this here on the share prices.”

Many economists are still predicting rising prices and the falling value of the pound will send Britain back into recession - with consequences for every country that trades with it. But the G20 must play a waiting game - until the framework of a Brexit deal can be done here in Brussels.