Iceland boss warns of food price rises this winter due to 'inflationary pressures'
SHOPPERS are being warned that food prices could rise this winter due to ‘inflationary pressures’, according to a supermarket boss.
Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland, has urged people to avoid panic buying, as the CO2 shortage crisis continues to rumble on.
It comes as fears grow that there could be shortages on the shelves in the days and weeks to come.
However Mr Walker has said he is ‘not overly concerned’ about a lack of supplies at Christmas because the shortages are hitting fresh produce first, but warned food prices could rise this winter due to ‘inflationary pressures’ on supermarkets.
He told Sky News: ‘We’re fortunate, we’re obviously frozen experts, we’ve got lots and lots of stock fully available so I’m not overly concerned and certainly there’s no need for customers to panic buy, we certainly don’t want to go back to those dark days.
‘But I do think it’s right to sound the alarm bell on some of these issues that we’re facing because if they’re not sorted, then we might have some issues.
‘But it’s more issues within the fresh chamber than it is frozen.
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‘We’re also facing inflationary pressures because of all the things that we’ve talked about.
‘I’m also concerned about retail selling prices as well as we get into the winter and into 2022.’