Nearly one in three UK stores has limited supply of crisps, according to data from the National Statistics Office (ONS) following the production difficulties faced by a major supplier.
Walkers, the largest potato maker in Britain, part of PepsiCo, was forced to cut production of its popular snack earlier this month after problems with upgrading its information system, warning it could take weeks to recover.
About 4% of the stores that researchers visited between November 12 and 15 did not have multipacks for sale, while 26% had limited supplies, according to a Kantar Public market survey published by ONS.
Every Briton consumes an average of two packs of chips a week, according to Kantar.
Frozen turkeys – which was the rarest product available last week when Kantar’s survey did not include chips – had little or no availability in 15% of stores.
The poultry industry, hit by labor shortages due to post-Brexit immigration restrictions and COVID-19, announced Monday that there will be plenty of whole turkeys for Christmas but a limited range of other products.
Britain, like other Western economies emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, has experienced occasional shortages of specific products in recent months. But problems in Britain have been exacerbated by Brexit, which has limited employers’ ability to hire workers from mainland Europe – something that was particularly noticeable last month when huge queues formed at petrol stations.
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