Reduced range of food items in shops at Christmas, MPs told

THERE will be a reduced range of food items available to buy this Christmas due to supply chain issues, MPs have been warned.

Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, a trade body representing the temperaturecontrolled logistics industry, said the sector is focused on what it believes is “achievable” in terms of what can be delivered to stores.

He told the Commons Transport Select Committee: “It’s not about shortages, it’s about simplifying. Having less range, obviously, is one of the key decisions you can make in trying to make supply chains more efficient.

“And it’s about reducing the amount of goods you’re expected to put on the shelves and then working with the customer base to actually make that clear.

“We have to strategically scale back in order to meet the promise that there will be the stuff you expect to see on the shelves, but not necessarily all the extras.”

Mr Brennan said companies are being forced to be “risk averse about how they see this Christmas period rather than trying to make up lost ground in terms of revenue”.

The supply chain is facing a number of pressures, such as drivers leaving the industry and difficulties recruiting new ones, border issues and delays with the movement of shipping containers.

Global shipping supplies are in “an unprecedented period of stress”, Mr Brennan told the committee.

He said it is taking two or three days for fresh food arriving at UK ports to be delivered to stores, whereas this would normally happen on a same-day or next-day basis.

For frozen food, the timescale has increased from between one and three days to up to five and six days.

“We’re seeing significant changes and having to re-plan on that basis,” Mr Brennan said. “The thing that’s different today compared to four months ago is, whilst that was a difficult adjustment period, people know that’s now the situation and are planning their decisions on that basis.”

Elizabeth de Jong, director of policy at trade body Logistics UK, told the hearing that the sector is “adjusting to the new normal”.

She said: “I think that even though we’ve had panic-buying over petrol, we are getting more used to seeing fewer things on shelves and that being OK, and knowing it’s coming.

“All things that we know as a society we need to be moving towards in our decarbonisation, not the instant gratification and demand.”