Food: Supply Chains

(asked on 18th February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the level of food and drink demand (a) currently and (b) in April 2022; and what steps he plans to take to ensure supply chain resilience during periods of high demand for food and drink.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 28th February 2022

Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production, as well as imports through stable trade routes. The capability, levers, and expertise to respond to disruption lie with the food and drink industry sectors who have highly resilient supply chains, responsive to changes in demand. They are well equipped to deal with potentially disruptive situations as we have seen throughout the COVID-19 response. The UK Government has well-established ways of working with the industry and with the Devolved Administrations to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.

The Government monitors consumer food prices using the Consumer Prices Index (including Housing Costs) (CPIH) and will continue to do so as changes are made in the next financial year. The latest published statistics show annual food and drink inflation as 4.4 per cent in the year to January 2022, up from 4.2 per cent in the year to December 2021. The CPIH month-on-month food and drink inflation rate was 0.7 per cent between December 2021 and January 2022, down from 1.3 per cent between November and December 2021. Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and manufacturing costs, and Sterling exchange rates. Change in food prices are dependent on changes in one or more of these factors. The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes, providing support worth around £12 billion this financial year and next, to help families with the cost of living.

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