Brexit raspberry fears

BOSSES at Ocado have warned of shortage of raspberries, mozzarella and parma ham if there is a No Deal Brexit.

Ocado’s finance chief Duncan TattonBrown said all food retailers would struggle to obtain fresh goods from the continent.

It has found British suppliers for some fresh products to help prevent potential shortages, but Tatton-Brown said: ‘We are all going to suffer the same on mozzarella cheese and parma ham if there is a problem getting them into the country. We can’t stock up on raspberries.’

The Government has dismissed talk of food shortages in the event of border delays, but the Ocado comments mirror warnings by Aldi chief executive Giles Hurley about items becoming scarce. He said products such as olive oil and chopped tomatoes can be stockpiled but added: ‘I can’t guarantee there won’t be shortages.’

Waitrose has also warned that some fresh foods might be unavailable. The comments came as Ocado revealed its third-quarter results – the first since the retail arm became a joint venture with Marks & Spencer.

Sales continued to grow quickly, up 11.4pc, as bosses said the effects of a fire at its Andover depot were mostly behind the firm. Ocado was the only grocer to record double-digit growth, although it is coming from a relatively small 1.4pc share.

The average order size fell to £105.42, but customers are buying more often. Marks & Spencer products will be sold on the Ocado website from September 2020 at the latest. Ocado stock rose 0.1pc, or 1p, to 1350.5p, while M&S fell 0.7pc, or 1.4p, to 204.1p.