EXPORTERS met yesterday to discuss how to cope with the 40% increase Guernsey Post said Royal Mail had forced on it.

Flower exporters expect to be badly affected as parcels will be charged according to size as well as weight and those handled manually will be more expensive than machine-processed items.

Helathspan, which exports pills and supplements, said it would avoid increases by adapting the shape of its packages.

Guernsey Postal Flower Association chairman Mark Fletcher said Guernsey Post could not be expected to absorb all the £8m. in additional tariffs.

‘Depending on your product and package type, you will have to pay more.’

He would have preferred the increase to have been phased in.

Guernsey Clematis Nursery production manager Paul Ingrouille said the business would be made less competitive.

Along with Mont Rose of Guernsey Ltd, it posts thousands of items every week, he said.

‘What will hit us is the weight charge. Our products range from 400g to about 1.2kg. The charge is .23p per gram.

‘It is difficult for plant products because they need to be moist, which adds a lot of weight,’ he said.

He said the greater part of the business – wholesale clematis supply for the garden centre market – should not be impacted but in recent years they had expanded the mail order business.

This might be affected, he said.

‘In a cost sensitive climate it will be very difficult to pass these costs on.’

Healthspan chief executive Derek Coates said bulk mailers were justifiably angry.