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UK fuel prices have climbed to their highest levels since 2022MATTHEW HORWOOD\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\nWholesalers to thousands of shops, schools, care homes and hospitals have warned Rachel Reeves of supply-chain issues as surging fuel prices threaten the sustainability\u00a0of their businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The food industry is scrambling to mitigate the fallout from the war in Iran, which has sent shockwaves through the global economy and caused the price of oil to skyrocket after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Wholesalers, which provide goods to retailers and directly to vital public services, wrote to the chancellor last week warning that the escalating costs of petrol and diesel are \u201ccausing major issues\u201d. <\/p>\n
The letter, seen by The Sunday Times, said continued fuel price increases would \u201cseverely impact the long-term sustainability of the UK\u2019s food and drink supply chain\u201d. <\/p>\n
It continued: \u201cWholesalers operate on significantly lower margins and supply other businesses, including many on the high street, rather than selling directly to consumers. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf prices for fuel continue to rise, wholesalers will be forced to pass the costs onto local businesses, which in turn will drive up prices and food inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bosses urged Reeves to extend the emergency 5p cut to fuel duty, introduced following the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022 to ease pressure on motorists.<\/p>\n
UK fuel prices have climbed to their highest levels since 2022MATTHEW HORWOOD\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
Diesel costs have soared because the UK is a net importer of the fuel. Guy Swindell, managing director of Parfetts, an \u00a3800 million wholesaler that supplies thousands of high street shops, said his company was already grappling with the impact of severe price rises for diesel across his fleet of about 100 trucks. <\/p>\n
He said: \u201cYou can imagine what we\u2019re facing into with diesel increases that are substantial. It seems to be creeping up each week. It could run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds for us. It will affect profitability if it goes on long term.\u201d <\/p>\n
A government spokesman said: \u201cWe know businesses are paying more because of the war in the Middle East. This is not our war and that is why we did not join it. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are determined to keep costs down, which is why we have extended the 5p fuel duty cut twice until September and will continue to monitor the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
It follows warnings that food inflation across the UK could surge to as high as 10 per cent by the end of the year, according to the Food & Drink Federation, which represents food manufacturers and suppliers. <\/p>\n
Some large firms, such as Princes, the tuna, juices and canned goods giant, have already raised their prices as a result of the conflict. The food and drink sector is particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in the price of energy because of the amount used in production.<\/p>\n
The International Monetary Fund warned last week that the world would face diesel and jet fuel shortages \u201cfor some time\u201d, as it prepares to downgrade its forecasts for global growth due to the war. <\/p>\n
Ministers have been racing to avoid a repeat of the spike in living costs that followed the Ukraine war, and have been holding meetings with businesses to try and hammer out solutions. <\/p>\n
Bosses are understood to have been asked about policy and regulations that could potentially be scaled back to ease pressure. However, senior retailers are said to believe that inflation will be inevitable due to the sheer scale of the crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wholesalers to thousands of shops, schools, care homes and hospitals have warned Rachel Reeves of supply-chain issues as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-394229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}