ExitIssues: Supply chain challenges in UK home and international markets at unprecedented levels

Spiraling energy costs, rising inflation, changing labour market forces, and Brexit regulations adding to pandemic restrictions have created issues [we have never faced before at such high levels." Consumer Markets Analyst Simon Creasey reports on the industry`s response.

Last year talk of `shortages` dominated the news headlines. There was a shortage of truck drivers that led to shortages at the petrol pumps and of goods stocked on supermarket shelves. There was a shortage of workers to fulfil numerous different tasks, from picking fruit and vegetables on farms to working in meat processing plants, due in part to issues like the Covid-19 pandemic. In some countries there was also a shortage of energy, which had a major impact on individuals and on businesses, as prices soared and many energy companies went under.