Food warehouses 'almost full' ahead of Brexit
The Food and Drink Federation said warehouses to stockpile fresh food ahead of Brexit are “almost full” and that the rest have been snapped up by Amazon.
Ian Wright, head of the federation told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee that warehouses around the UK for frozen and chilled food are "for all practical purposes booked out at the moment".
"We don't know if there are products in those places or people have booked the space to be careful or for production," he said. "Some innovative providers are doing the Airbnb of warehousing which is very interesting, but for big and medium-sized businesses, that just won't work."
The federation still does not know what companies have taken the space and if it is being used to stockpile food.
“What we don’t know is whether there is actual product in those places.There is some gossip, and I can’t stand this up, that quite a lot of this has been booked by Amazon for their entry into the food market at some point over the next few months. Every retailer is inevitably terrified by that prospect and will talk it up,” said Ian Wright.
Addressing the committee was also Dan Mobley, corporate relations director of spirits producer Diageo, and Ian Rayson, director of corporate communications at food and drink company Nestle.
Rayson said: "We are stockbuilding some products to bring into the UK and stockbuilding in Europe products that we would send out there."
Mobley said: "If we are going to face a chaotic Brexit, that will pose problems for us and we will work out market by market if we need to increase shipments.
"We've put in place planning so we can manage a no-deal without any disruption to customers."