Food manufacturing bosses have warned of “inevitable” price rises and the threat of shortages across a raft of products due to the impact of drought and heatwaves in the UK.
Speaking this morning, FDF Scotland CEO and UK director of strategy David Thomson told the BBC there were “significant concerns” over the availability of many fruit and veg products, and warned it was only a matter of time before shoppers experienced a spike in food price inflation.
Whilst the FDF’s prediction of food price inflation hitting up to 10% by the end of this year has now been downgraded, with a new forecast set to come out in the next two weeks, the FDF boss said there was only so much suppliers could do to keep prices down.
“We have a significant concern across the food sector about the availability and cost of ingredients as we go forward into the coming year,” Thomson told BBC Scotland.
“In the UK we’re talking about fruit and vegetables and green products. All of those are going to be hit. Inevitably there will be higher prices… across the whole basket, [but] the issue is around fruit and veg in particular.”
Thomson said the FDF has been “surprised” at the ability of the food supply chain to keep a lid on inflation to date, despite a series of geopolitical shocks, the extreme weather and the huge burden of regulatory costs imposed under Keir Starmer’s government.
He added: “It’s being absorbed by the supply chain, but there is only so much that can be done. In the food supply chain everyone is working hard to reduce costs, but eventually that will feed through into higher prices, it’s an inevitability.”
Ged Futter, director of The Retail Mind, said extreme weather had become “a much bigger factor” for UK supermarkets.
“What we’re seeing is such a prolonged period of hot weather it is putting pressure not just on the food we’re eating now, but the food that is in the ground that we’ll be eating later this year.
“I don’t think we have to worry so much about food not being available, but how much it will cost. If supermarkets can’t get their food here they traditionally source it from Europe, and we know Europe is also experiencing extreme heat so the pressure isn’t just in this country.
“There will be pressure on supply. It’s the brassicas, it’s potatoes, we’re yet to see what the full impact will be. We know there is real pressure on the farmers.”
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