UK food storage warehouses ‘all booked out' ahead of Brexit

UK food producers will struggle to find warehousing space as they prepare for Brexit the director general of the Food and Drink Federation has told a government committee.

Ian Wright told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee that most of the UK's viable warehousing space, particularly for frozen and chilled goods, was "for all practical purposes booked out".

He want on to tell ministers that some ambient warehousing would be available, but that it would be in the wrong part of the country for supply chains.

He said: "What we do not know is if there is produce in these places and going forward whether people have booked them to be careful, or if they are gearing up production to put product in there. It's a difficult issue."

Wright did say that some space was being offered on an Airbnb type basis, but that this would not provide a long-term answer for medium to large businesses.

He was joined on the panel by Ian Rayson, director of corporate communications, at Nestle UK, and Dan Mobley, corporate relations director at Diageo.

Rayson told the panel that Nestle has started to stockpile some products in the UK and some products in other European markets, but that these supplies would last only a matter of weeks.

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