Interesting read but and the US surely does facilitate monopolistic and big business but the 'shortages' are really first world problem shortages. Product availability and choice now is still many many time better than it was 20 years ago.
If you drop demand by 20% then increase demand by 20% on a massive scale any supply chain would struggle. In the near future demand will soften and shortages will be resolved but prices are sticky coupled with printing money means inflation is a real issue.
Kept forgetting over the weekend to update this thread...
And may be .. just may be ... will chlorinated chicken replace organic turkey this christmas?The prime minister will gather senior members of the cabinet to scrutinise “Operation Escalin” after BP admitted that a third of its petrol stations had run out of the main two grades of fuel, while the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which represents almost 5,500 independent outlets, said 50% to 90% of its members had reported running out. It predicted that the rest would soon follow.
https://www.theguardian.com/business...etrol-stationsAttention is also turning to Christmas. Kate Martin of the Traditional Farm-fresh Turkey Association (TFTA) said the UK could face a “national shortage” of turkeys in the run-up to December.
The TFTA, which represents producers of high-end free-range turkeys, said it was “100% caused by a labour shortage” due to post-Brexit immigration rules, meaning “a whole host” of the workforce is “no longer available for us to use on a seasonal basis”.
The British Retail Consortium also said moves to relax immigration rules to fix supply chain issues was “too little, too late” for Christmas.
One of the simple joys of leaving Europe…..
Thank you BJ and all that chose to leave.
I do agree that leaving the EU has harmed/hindered the UK. There are definitely petrol queues and closed petrol stations where we live. But the supermarkets still seem amazing to me! Everything is relative, of course, but in comparison to what was available in my local Fusion in Hong Kong, the range, choice and pricing in my local supermarket in the UK is far superior.
Im not saying the shortages aren’t occurring - just that in comparison to what we had before the choices here still look pretty amazing.
You can’t really compare a island city-state to an entire country. There isn’t amazing selection at the grocery stores in Grand Cayman either.
What’s happening in the UK is some sort of supply chain shock or failure, it’s totally irrelevant to the fact that HK relies on imported food because we can’t grow anything here at scale.