Europe's Energy Crisis Hits UK's Food Sector

A report by Bloomberg revealed that Europe's energy crisis has had a direct impact on the UK's food sector. Online grocer Ocado Group PLC stopped supplying frozen products to customers, which prompted the meat industry to warn that businesses might "grind to a halt" within a period of two weeks.

This "shock" to the industry is caused by a shortage of carbon dioxide. The gas is used in the meat industry in stunning animals for slaughter, in packaging foodstuffs to give them an extended shelf life, and in "dry ice" which preserves the items that need to be kept frozen during delivery.

After natural gas prices increased this week, fertilizer maker CF Industries Holdings Inc. responded to the price hike by closing UK fertilizer plants, whose byproduct is carbon dioxide. 

A lack of labor caused by Brexit and the pandemic had already battered the UK's food industry, but now this supply disruption has added to the sector's pressures. Some stores were already low on items like meats, milk, and bread prior to the crisis.

This stop in production has proven the impact high energy prices have on energy-intensive industries in the UK, according to the Energy Intensive Users Group that urged the Kingdom to take the appropriate steps to keep British industries competitive amid rising energy costs.