Delivery dilemma: Tesco chief remains upbeat but trading problems continue

GOODS being delivered to Northern Ireland, including ready meals and fresh fruit, are experiencing disruptions due to Brexit, Tesco has said.

Supermarkets have reported problems with post-brexit arrangements when moving products into Northern Ireland, which has remained in the EU single market while the rest of the UK has left.

“Ready meals have been the most affected as they have an eight-day shelf life so any wait is more likely to have an impact,” said Tesco chief executive, Ken Murphy.

“Some processed meat and some citrus fruit has also been impacted, but it is important to stress that our availability in the Republic and Northern Ireland is strong and is very strong in the mainland UK.

“We see this as a challenge at the moment, but not a crisis.”

He added: “Inevitably there are… teething issues that you would expect with any new process that’s been set up at relatively short notice.”

This week the British Retail Consortium, the trade body which represents the supermarkets, told MPS that current trading arrangements with the EU were “pretty much unworkable” and called for urgent changes to arrangements for goods heading into Northern Ireland before full border checks are implemented on April 1.

New trading arrangements were not published in full until December 31, just a day before businesses had to implement them.

Mr Murphy’s comments come alongside latest figures which revealed record Christmas revenues for the UK’S biggest supermarket chain.

Like-for-like sales rose 6.1% in the 19 weeks to January 9. Online sales grew by more than 80% as staff delivered more than seven million Christmas orders.

The supermarket giant is the latest grocer to report positive sales momentum over the Christmas period amid heightened Covid-19 restrictions.

Large stores saw sales grow strongly as customers have favoured bigger but less frequent shopping trips during the pandemic.

However, Tesco now expects the pandemic to cost it £810m this year, with the increased severity of the virus in recent months causing it to increase its previous prediction by £85m.

Tesco sought to reassure customers about levels of stock, saying that “comprehensive preparations and our strong relationships with suppliers” have resulted in strong levels of availability during the Brexit transition period.

Mr Murphy said about 30,000 staff are currently absent due to the virus, with about 7,000 of these staff shielding as they are highly vulnerable.

Mr Murphy said: “Our focus on looking after our customers, including delivering record availability, robust safety measures and great value, has enabled us to maintain strong momentum through the Christmas period, outperforming the market every week.

“We delivered a record Christmas across all of our formats and channels.

“Our colleagues went above and beyond, rising to every challenge in the most exceptional of circumstances and I thank every one of them for this.

“We’re in great shape to keep delivering in 2021 and beyond.”

Shares in the company moved 1.3% lower to 239p in early trading yesterday