Food shortages latest news: Shoppers rage over UK supermarket rationing

Prices of staples like butter, milk and cheese rose 30% year-on-year in some supermarkets in December, figures show.

While headline food and drink inflation hit 15% in December across the eight major supermarkets, butter and spreads rose a “staggering” 29.4%, according to surveys by consumer group Which?

Milk was 26.3% more expensive than a year earlier, but so were cheese (22.3%), baked goods (19.5%), water (18.6%) and savory pies, pastries and quiches (18.5% ) rose above average .

Former Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King acknowledged that supplies have been impacted by bad weather abroad but have also been “horribly hurt by Brexit”.

Mr King told LBC that UK greenhouses, previously known to grow tomatoes, have suffered in recent years.

“These are products that we have been making or have made in the UK all year round,” Mr King said.

He continued: “North Kent, in Thanet, [had] the largest greenhouses in Europe, which used to be full of peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes.

“But these greenhouses have really suffered from two major things. I hate to say it, but it is a sector that has suffered terribly from Brexit.”

Mr King also claimed that the supermarket industry has suffered from the government’s decision to exclude it from its energy support scheme.

Tesco has warned its Clubcard customers about the expiration of vouchers as grocery prices remain at painfully high levels – and consumer expert Martin Lewis has stepped in to offer a hack of his own.

More than 20 million people in the UK currently hold a Tesco Clubcard, which allows shoppers to receive special discounts on selected items and earn points which they can later redeem as vouchers to use in-store.

Customers can use their Clubcard vouchers to reduce the cost of their weekly groceries or fuel, get a discount at more than 100 rewards partners including Pizza Express and Spa Seekers or start new business with Tesco Mobile.

Shoppers will face an extra £788 on their annual grocery bill due to food price inflation, retail analysts Kantar said.

Fraser McKevitt, Head of Retail and Consumer Insight at Kantar, said: “Households are now facing an extra £788 on their annual grocery bills if they don’t change their behavior to cut costs.”

So how can we change our behavior to save money when shopping for groceries?

Financial journalist Paul Lewis, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Piggy Bank’ program and author of the new companion book, shares the following tips…

• Watch out for psychological tricks

James Bailey, chief executive of Waitrose supermarket, said extreme weather rather than Brexit was to blame for the product shortages.

“It snowed and hailed in Spain, last week it hailed in North Africa – it’s wiping out a lot of these crops,” he told LBC radio.

“Give it about a fortnight and the other growing seasons in other parts of the world will have caught up and we should be able to pick that stock up again.”

The UK is facing shortages of vegetables, particularly tomatoes, after disrupted harvests in southern Europe and North Africa hit supermarket supplies.

Grocers said the situation has been exacerbated by lower winter production in greenhouses in Britain and the Netherlands due to high energy costs.

Although Britain is largely self-sufficient in summer, it typically imports 95 percent of its tomatoes and 90 percent of its lettuce from December to March, according to BRC data.

Asda, Britain’s third-largest grocer, said it had introduced a temporary three-pack limit on tomatoes purchases, while rival Morrisons said it would cap two items per customer.

Supermarkets across the UK have started rationing fresh food, which is expected to take “weeks”.

A poor harvest in Europe means Asda is now limiting its customers to a maximum of three items, such as peppers, lettuce and broccoli.

Morrisons will also launch a ban on more than two items from today, with limited products including tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers.

Rich Booth and Eleanor Noyce report.

Shoppers have lashed out after reports of empty shelves in supermarkets across the country over the weekend.

Morrisons has acknowledged a tomato shortage and elsewhere reports a general shortage of fresh vegetables.

Andrea Cowan, the SNP councilwoman for Rutherglen Central & North, posted a photo on Twitter showing a shortage of vegetables at a site near her.

Not only British supermarkets are struggling with fresh produce shortages, stocks are also depleted in Ireland.

Tesco Ireland has reported that its stock levels have been temporarily affected, with locally owned chain SuperValu confirming similar problems.

Industry circles shared this BBC that the UK could suffer from lower domestic production and more complex supply chains alongside a price sensitive market. However, these sources suggest that Brexit is “unlikely”.

Wholesaler Ken Mortimer, CEO of Heritage Fine Food Company, doesn’t believe Brexit is the cause of the current shortages.

The impact of new border procedures for fruit and vegetable imports will not be seen until January 2024. Imports from Morocco – outside the EU – are already subject to border controls.