British chicken king says 20 years of overeating on cheap is over

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Empty shelves of fresh chicken in a supermarket, as cases of coronavirus continue to increase worldwide, in London, Britain, March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Nichols

Food inflation will hit double digits, costs go up – Chicken King says problems are global – Finance Minister says there will be enough goods – Fenmin says

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s 20-year craving for cheap food is about to end and food price inflation could reach more than 10 percent due to the tide of rising costs ripping through the supply chain, Britain’s largest chicken producer said. .

As it emerges from the Brexit and COVID crises, the world’s fifth-largest economy is facing an acute shortage of truck drivers, butchers and warehouse workers exacerbating the strains of the global supply chain.

“The days when you could feed a family of four with 3 pounds ($4) chickens are coming to an end,” Ranjit Singh Bhubaran, owner of Sisters Group 2, known as the “Chicken King,” said in a statement.

“Relatively speaking, it is cheaper to buy chicken today than it was 20 years ago. How can a whole chicken cost less than a pint of beer? You look at a different world from now on where the shopper pays more.”

Bobaran, who produces about a third of all poultry products consumed in the UK, said he did not believe the British government could fix all the problems or get inflation under control. He said that restricting the supply of labor would lead to wage inflation and that he would invest in automation.

“Less employment means fewer options, base ranges, empty shelves, and inflated wages, and that’s not going to change,” he said. “Right now, I need to be honest about what this means for the consumer, where inflation can be double digits.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that the British economy must remove its addiction to cheap imported labor and that it is a positive that wages will rise.

Johnson’s government has denied that Brexit is to blame for the strain on the economy, even though no other European economies have faced the same extent of supply chain disruption.

“I feel confident that there will be good provision of goods for everyone, and we are working our way up to removing hurdles where we can,” Johnson’s finance minister, Rishi Sunak, said in Washington.

Poparan determined the cost of the tsunami: Feed and supplement costs, and veterinary costs and wages rose 15-20%; severe shortage of truck drivers; Energy and CO2 costs up more than 500% from last year; Packaging will increase by 20% in six months.

2 Sisters, founded by Bobaran in 1993, sells poultry, pizza and pies. It treats 10.4 million birds per week and owns more than 700 farms.

Ronald Kerr, CEO of 2 Sisters Food Group, advised people to shop normally for Christmas and said the company would do everything in its power to ensure supplies of festive turkey.

Food prices rose 0.2% year-on-year in August, according to official consumer price data, breaking a nine-month streak of declines.

(dollar = 0.7310 pounds)

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge). Editing by Sarah Young and Elaine Hardcastle

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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