Food sector fears 'worst-case' scenario Brexit will become reality from January with 40 per cent of trade grinding to a halt

[SupplyChainHusband]

The government’s ‘worst-case scenario’ predicted 40-70 per cent of trucks travelling to the EU may not be ready for new border controls, resulting in queues of up to 7,000 trucks on motorways across Kent.

Since the EU supplies the UK with 26 per cent of its total food and around 70-80 per cent of its fresh fruit and vegetables, the disruption could leave a significant shortfall in the nation's food supplies.

Around 70 per cent of tomatoes, 99 per cent of spinach, 71 per cent of cucumbers and 74 per cent of pears come from Europe, according to Defra figures.

More information in link: www.fruitnet.com/eurofruit/article/183594/brexit-1.

[MarshmallowManiac]

I read that as firms have stockpiled a lot and delayed deliveries until Feb and the shortage of customs officers means that trade will take longer to get back to former amounts, so I feel that the holdups at the border have not been felt yet. It will happen I think in future weeks and months. We have it all to come.

[Imsayingnothing]

There's a good channel on YouTube called ice age farmer he covers a lot to do with food supply chains globally.

[FoolShapeHeart]

France have announced they'll no longer be accepting lateral flow test results from non-EU countries; I'd imagine that's likely to cause issues for truckers?

[Dugee]

I'm not in NI, I'm in a suburb of Manchester. I went to my village at lunch time (it's referred to as a village even though it's the high st of a suburb 😀).

I got bread from the bakery (lots on the shelves), a large chicken and mushroom pie for tonight (they had plenty to choose from). Some pork steaks for Sunday from the butchers (again plenty to choose from).

I got fresh fruit (satsumas, apples and bananas - plenty of stock) from the greengrocer, along with eggs, milk (they only had the small containers left so I bought 4 but the shelf was pretty full of the small containers), potatoes, broccoli, green beans, cabbage (plenty of all of these) and yogurts (there were only 4 left and I bought them all). I also bought a block of cheese (the 2nd to last one on the shelf). So it looks like locally there is potentially a bit of a shortage of maybe milk, yogurts and cheese. This is one independent shop in my village though so it probably isn't reflective of the bigger picture.

Is anyone aware if another transition period ending on 31st March? I read and ran but I thought I saw something that said that that is when supply problems may hit.

[MarshmallowManiac]

Hopefully Blackeyed

Would be good to know Dugee thanks.

Good luck at the market buckeejit

[buckeejit]

It's even more bleak in NI apparently - lots of fresh stuff missing from supermarkets

I'm going to local market in the morn as need to make soup so will try for fruit & veg there

As well as my own children, I childmind so lots of mouths to feed 🥴

[Dugee]

@MarshmallowManiac

That's interesting. I go to my local village on a Friday for bread, eggs and milk. I'll report back tomorrow if I have any problems with bread.

[BlackeyedSusan]

Maybe different brand?

Good luck with fishing the crackers out of the toaster!

[MarshmallowManiac]

Also had an email from my milkman to say that due to Covid they are finding it difficult to get bread and may have to substitute. But if you ask for bread what will they give you if they haven't any? Crackers or croissants doesn't really cut it if you want a sandwich.

[SixesAndEights]

I'm very glad of my stash what with the more virulent strain of covid, means there's not so much pressure to have to go to any shops. I've noticed a few probs with veg so am glad of my few bags of freezer broccoli and cauli.

[BlackeyedSusan]

hope so cha cha . sil mentioned she had trouble getting veg in the supermarket today.

[ChilternsChaCha]

I also wonder if there was a rush on stuff last week, when lockdown was announced. Stuff which will have been refilled soon. Like supermarket slots - that will sort itself out soon as well.

[Sexnotgender]

I wonder how much is Covid/lockdown related and how much is a supply issue?

We’ll probably never know.

My parents were doing childcare today and my mum was rummaging in my larder for biscuits. HOW many tins do you have?! Enough...

[TheNinjaWife]

The other thing I had been doing apart from prepping (thanks to the advice on these threads I started back in 2018!), is to work out what is available in less popular shops. I was getting quite a bit of weekly shopping in a small Poundland near to where we live. Toiletries, cleaning products, cat kibbles, bread, milk, cheese, and also some long life items. These seemed to become a lot more available after the first lockdown, however this Poundland has now closed. And without much notice. Store closures like this will then of course cause more people to all go to the same shops, leading to even more shortages.

[Whenwillow]

I just saw that daily mail article. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[BlackeyedSusan]

Quite a lot unavailable from Asda. More than normal.

[TheNinjaWife]

I went in to a Lidl today, just to top up on fresh food. There were lots of obvious gaps that weren’t there last week.

[ChilternsChaCha]

Our local Tesco seems normal. No spaces on the shelves.

[AldiIsla]

Daily Mail had an article about fresh food having gaps. If you Google daily mail and fresh food it's the first hit.

[Notstrongandstable]

I went to a reasonable sized Sainsbury's this morning...lots of fruit and veg missing. The meat section looked depleted too. I don't normally shop there at that time but I'm pretty sure it's not normally like that. Haven't seen much in the news as out delays though

[Dugee]

Haven't been to a supermarket yet. Went to the my local high street on Friday. Bakery for pie and bread. Greengrocers that also sells dairy for fresh fruit and veg, yogurts, eggs, cheese and milk. Other than the fruit and veg, everything I bought was produced in the U.K. So maybe that's why there weren't any issues. I'm concerned about a stricter lockdown and the usual panic buying. Plus, given the new strain seems so rampant, I'd prefer to go in smaller shops that only allow 2 in at a time, rather than supermarkets.

[cachedelete]

We've kept weekly deliveries (all managed via phone app) for us and in-laws and only had odd things missing or subbed so far - although we get a veg box so don't buy a lot of veg from supermarket.

We all work in/attend different schools, so have avoided going in anywhere else as much as possible with all the asymptomatic/contagious stories. So far only DP has had to self-isolate, but maintaining stocks for if it happens again removes a lot of stress - and generally working from what we have and buying a spare has become normal.

[Sexnotgender]

I’m back to using delivery slots now shielding is back. DD is ECV and I’m now 6 months pregnant so CV.

I’ve always been a low level prepper much to my mums amusement. Grateful for my stash right now.

[BlackeyedSusan]

There have been a few rumblings on the news about issues.

[BlackeyedSusan]

I use slots as dd was cv, and between us we have several disabilities. I cna't shop without pain.