Cadbury owner stockpiles chocolate, biscuits for possible Brexit snack shortage
Mondelez Europe says it wants to be able to deliver a ‘free flow of products’ to minimise the effect of a possible food shortage after Britain leaves the EU
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Mondelez International, owner of British chocolate maker Cadbury, is stockpiling ingredients, confectionery and biscuits in the event of a hard Brexit, the US snack-food group’s European boss said on Tuesday.
“Like the whole of the food and drink industry in the UK, we would prefer a good deal that allows the free flow of products as that would have less of an impact to the UK consumer,” Mondelez Europe President Hubert Weber told The Times newspaper.
“However, we are also preparing for a hard Brexit and, from a buffering perspective for Mondelez, we are stocking higher levels of ingredients and finished products, although you can only do so much because of the shelf life of our products.
“We have a contingency plan in place to manage … as the UK is not self-sufficient in terms of food ingredients, so that could be a challenge.”
Hopes for a Brexit agreement between Brussels and London rose this week, but British police have reportedly drawn up contingency plans for civil unrest if Britain crashes out of the EU, citing fears of shortages of food and goods.
US food giant Kraft Foods bought Cadbury in 2010 in a deal then worth £11.9 billion, after a protracted takeover battle.
Two years later, Kraft was split into two: Mondelez, the global snacks company, and Kraft Foods Group, the North American grocery products giant. Kraft and Heinz then merged three years after that to form Kraft Heinz.
