View
comments
The Government was last night rushing to dampen fears that staff shortages, soaring energy bills and global supply-chain woes will lead to panic-buying in the run- up to Christmas.
Toys, clothes, chocolate and toilet rolls are among products that could become more scarce within weeks as manufacturers wrestle with soaring costs.
The Confederation of Paper Industries said sectors including food packaging could also be impacted. Director general Andrew Large warned that costs could ‘go up through the roof’.
Meanwhile, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that around one in six British shoppers has been unable to buy essential food items at stores over the last fortnight.
According to the ONS study, 17 per cent of adults found that the essential food items they wanted to purchase were unavailable. Almost a quarter found the same problem with non-essential food items. A supermarket is pictured above in London on September 21
It came as a survey of 1,000 people by retail magazine The Grocer suggested two-thirds were worried or very worried at the prospect of food and drink shortages over Christmas.
Cabinet
