Brits are panic-buying toilet paper and other supplies amid fuel crisis
Toilet paper was one of the first products to disappear from supermarket shelves at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. It is no shock then that it is the target of panic-buying once again. This time, however, it is happening because of the fuel crisis plaguing the UK.
According to the Daily Mail, long queues of panic-buyers have materialised at a Costco store in Manchester to stock up on products like toilet paper.
Supermarkets are running out of stocks
In the last two weeks, around one in six adults (17 per cent) have been unable to buy essential food items amid living cost rise and fuel shortages. That is according to a new study released by the Office for National Statistics.
As always, ministers seek to ease fears as several companies warn that shortages may carry on to the end of this year. At the same time, a third of retailers in the South East have warned they have either no or limited fuel supplies, The Mail reports.
Food shortages and empty shelves may have even cost Britain’s ‘Big Four’ supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – a staggering £2billion in lost sales so far this year, with the number of out-of-stock items at least twice as high as before the pandemic, analysts have said.
The empty shelves situation is not only due to the fuel crisis, but there is also a global concern regarding supplies shortages. Covid-19’s effects on the economy are on the rise, with inflation on the mind of every economist.
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