Consumers should expect steep price increases after Christmas, according to one of the UK's most senior retail executives
The country's supply chains are currently under heavy pressure, in part thanks to a lack of HGV drivers and other critical workers triggered by Brexit and the pandemic.
Around 20% of all products in deliveries to hospitality businesses are currently not being delivered, said Ms Nicholls."Our supply chains are in no way resilient," she said."We will deliver as good a Christmas as we are able to, but not as good as we would want to."One uncomfortable truth, said Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, was that migrant labour was essential to strengthen the country's food supply chains.
"We’ve got shortages right across the supply chain, and there’s huge competition out there for jobs," Mr Opie said. "We have to have an honest conversation about what part migrant workers play in the food supply chain," he added."Because if we don’t solve this conundrum in the next few years, we’re going to start to see production being lost from the UK."Around 20% of all products in deliveries to hospitality businesses are currently not being delivered
As Britain emerged from the pandemic this summer, around 20% of hospitality workers never returned to work from the furlough scheme, Ms Nicholls said."That’s the biggest problem we’ve had over the summer, and that’ll take time to play out," said Ms Nicholls.
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