Scrutable

Tessa K wrote: Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:25 am Has anyone else in the UK (specifically London) noticed big gaps in the supermarket shelves? My Sainsbury's (quite a big one) has had shortages for a few weeks now, mostly its own-brand products. I'm assuming this is Brexit rather than Covid as they managed to keep the shelves stocked during the worst of the pandemic (after the initial panic buying was over).

Definitely shortages here, Belfast.

Empty shelves in both local Asda and Tescos.

Still enough fresh fruit and veg and meat but alcohol is very short. They have run out of some wines and beers and ciders and do not seem to be getting deliveries of these for a couple of weeks. Might be people just drinking to get through this though.

Coleslaw shortage today, among many other things.

It's getting serious - "KFC warns customers that menu will be missing items due to supply shortages"

Here in Spain the shops are fully stocked ... except for British sausages. You can't even get them in Gib now. Some people are pissed off.
I don't eat meat so I don't care. Covid doesn't appear to have had much effect on the supply chain. Except for (especially) Richmond sausages. But not their veggie ones

Opti wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:03 pm Here in Spain the shops are fully stocked ... except for British sausages. You can't even get them in Gib now. Some people are pissed off.
I don't eat meat so I don't care. Covid doesn't appear to have had much effect on the supply chain. Except for (especially) Richmond sausages. But not their veggie ones

Richmond are an Irish brand, so shouldn't be affected (unless you're saying they are still available).

Nope, there haven't been any Richmond meat sausages here or in Gib since January. Nor any British bacon.

Opti wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:47 pm Nope, there haven't been any Richmond meat sausages here or in Gib since January. Nor any British bacon.

It's possible they're being sent over the burger to the north, as GB sausages are now more difficult to import.

Regardless, it must be awfully upsetting.

Gfamily wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:35 pm

Opti wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:03 pm Here in Spain the shops are fully stocked ... except for British sausages. You can't even get them in Gib now. Some people are pissed off.
I don't eat meat so I don't care. Covid doesn't appear to have had much effect on the supply chain. Except for (especially) Richmond sausages. But not their veggie ones

Richmond are an Irish brand, so shouldn't be affected (unless you're saying they are still available).

Possible that part or all of the production is in the UK though.

Woodchopper wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 1:29 pm

Gfamily wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:35 pm

Opti wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:03 pm Here in Spain the shops are fully stocked ... except for British sausages. You can't even get them in Gib now. Some people are pissed off.
I don't eat meat so I don't care. Covid doesn't appear to have had much effect on the supply chain. Except for (especially) Richmond sausages. But not their veggie ones

Richmond are an Irish brand, so shouldn't be affected (unless you're saying they are still available).

Possible that part or all of the production is in the UK though.

And they were originally invented in Liverpool

Opti wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:03 pm Here in Spain the shops are fully stocked ... except for British sausages. You can't even get them in Gib now. Some people are pissed off.
I don't eat meat so I don't care. Covid doesn't appear to have had much effect on the supply chain. Except for (especially) Richmond sausages. But not their veggie ones

Same in Germany. No Covid related supply problems since the Great Bog Roll Famine of March 2020. Can't think why Britain might have issues.

There were never any problems in Lombardy even when that was one of the worst-hit regions in Europe and you had to queue outside and a man dressed fully in Tyvek^TM checked your temperature on the way in.

And there are no problems in the supermarkets in Slovakia now, apart from the usual one of all the bread having caraway seeds in it for some f.cking reason.

shpalman wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 5:24 pm There were never any problems in Lombardy even when that was one of the worst-hit regions in Europe and you had to queue outside and a man dressed fully in Tyvek^TM checked your temperature on the way in.

And there are no problems in the supermarkets in Slovakia now, apart from the usual one of all the bread having caraway seeds in it for some f.cking reason.

CF Germany, crisps and paprika.

dyqik wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 6:20 pm

shpalman wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 5:24 pm There were never any problems in Lombardy even when that was one of the worst-hit regions in Europe and you had to queue outside and a man dressed fully in Tyvek^TM checked your temperature on the way in.

And there are no problems in the supermarkets in Slovakia now, apart from the usual one of all the bread having caraway seeds in it for some f.cking reason.

CF Germany, crisps and paprika.

Paprika crisps are awesome.

monkey wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:31 pm

dyqik wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 6:20 pm

shpalman wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 5:24 pm There were never any problems in Lombardy even when that was one of the worst-hit regions in Europe and you had to queue outside and a man dressed fully in Tyvek^TM checked your temperature on the way in.

And there are no problems in the supermarkets in Slovakia now, apart from the usual one of all the bread having caraway seeds in it for some f.cking reason.

CF Germany, crisps and paprika.

Paprika crisps are awesome.

Paprika crisps in Germany are sweet bell pepper flavour, rather than the spicy flavour British people might expect. It is a popular crisp flavour, but would be easy to avoid and be clearly labelled as such.

Tessa K wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 3:45 pm

Woodchopper wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 1:29 pm

Gfamily wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:35 pm

Richmond are an Irish brand, so shouldn't be affected (unless you're saying they are still available).

Possible that part or all of the production is in the UK though.

And they were originally invented in Liverpool

Surely the problem would be that the main route from Ireland goes through the U.K. I know there’s a couple of direct ferries now from dun laoghaire to the continent, but it’s hardly matching the amount of trade from before Brexit.

Grumble wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:48 pm

Tessa K wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 3:45 pm

Woodchopper wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 1:29 pm

Possible that part or all of the production is in the UK though.

And they were originally invented in Liverpool

Surely the problem would be that the main route from Ireland goes through the U.K. I know there’s a couple of direct ferries now from dun laoghaire to the continent, but it’s hardly matching the amount of trade from before Brexit.

I believe there are a number of new direct routes, so there's 3 Irish ports with crossings to Roscoff or Cherbourg.

I think I saw a service being proposed to Le Havre as well, but not sure if it got established.

WFJ wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:44 pm

monkey wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:31 pm

dyqik wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 6:20 pm

CF Germany, crisps and paprika.

Paprika crisps are awesome.

Paprika crisps in Germany are sweet bell pepper flavour, rather than the spicy flavour British people might expect. It is a popular crisp flavour, but would be easy to avoid and be clearly labelled as such.

Easy to avoid if you decide not to buy crisps.

Gfamily wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 10:05 pm

Grumble wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:48 pm

Tessa K wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 3:45 pm

And they were originally invented in Liverpool

Surely the problem would be that the main route from Ireland goes through the U.K. I know there’s a couple of direct ferries now from dun laoghaire to the continent, but it’s hardly matching the amount of trade from before Brexit.

I believe there are a number of new direct routes, so there's 3 Irish ports with crossings to Roscoff or Cherbourg.

I think I saw a service being proposed to Le Havre as well, but not sure if it got established.

I saw this https://twitter.com/JJHTweets/status/14 ... 4421009408



There's also a less clear but more comprehensive map here: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8f1QNXXoAA ... name=small

They’re great I’m sure, but the capacity of those routes will inevitably be lower than the overland route with short ferry/chunnel crossings, simply due to how many lorries can travel in one day across the water.

You know, up here in the grim North I've seen no shortages of anything at all! All the shops are fully stocked. The only thing we can't get, which apparently hasn't been available for a long time, is Vim scouring powder. Do people just not use it anymore?

Grumble wrote: Sat Aug 14, 2021 7:37 am They’re great I’m sure, but the capacity of those routes will inevitably be lower than the overland route with short ferry/chunnel crossings, simply due to how many lorries can travel in one day across the water.

But these routes are only supplying/servicing Ireland (5 million people), not the UK and Ireland (70 million people), so nowhere near as much capacity is required.

dyqik wrote: Sat Aug 14, 2021 1:29 pm

Grumble wrote: Sat Aug 14, 2021 7:37 am They’re great I’m sure, but the capacity of those routes will inevitably be lower than the overland route with short ferry/chunnel crossings, simply due to how many lorries can travel in one day across the water.

But these routes are only supplying/servicing Ireland (5 million people), not the UK and Ireland (70 million people), so nowhere near as much capacity is required.

Well the post I was responding to was about Irish sausages in Spain.

Grumble wrote: Sat Aug 14, 2021 1:49 pm

dyqik wrote: Sat Aug 14, 2021 1:29 pm

Grumble wrote: Sat Aug 14, 2021 7:37 am They’re great I’m sure, but the capacity of those routes will inevitably be lower than the overland route with short ferry/chunnel crossings, simply due to how many lorries can travel in one day across the water.

But these routes are only supplying/servicing Ireland (5 million people), not the UK and Ireland (70 million people), so nowhere near as much capacity is required.

Well the post I was responding to was about Irish sausages in Spain.

And so is my reply.

Ireland has a population 14 times smaller than UK plus Ireland. Its GDP is at least that much smaller, and so, roughly, was its traffic in exports and imports to the EU.

Pre-Brexit, its exports of sausages were part of exports that only made up about 1/14th of the UK's cross channel export capacity. And that's ignoring the exports that already went directly, so the actual proportion would be a bit lower. Thus the ferry capacity it needs to add to maintain exports to the EU is a lot lower than the old UK to EU capacity.

dyqik wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 10:12 pm

WFJ wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:44 pm

monkey wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:31 pm

Paprika crisps are awesome.

Paprika crisps in Germany are sweet bell pepper flavour, rather than the spicy flavour British people might expect. It is a popular crisp flavour, but would be easy to avoid and be clearly labelled as such.

Easy to avoid if you decide not to buy crisps.

Now now, there's no need to go to extremes.

Woodchopper wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 1:29 pm

Gfamily wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:35 pm

Opti wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:03 pm Here in Spain the shops are fully stocked ... except for British sausages. You can't even get them in Gib now. Some people are pissed off.
I don't eat meat so I don't care. Covid doesn't appear to have had much effect on the supply chain. Except for (especially) Richmond sausages. But not their veggie ones

Richmond are an Irish brand, so shouldn't be affected (unless you're saying they are still available).

Possible that part or all of the production is in the UK though.

In Hyde, near Manchester.