Mondelēz International is ‘stockpiling products and ingredients’ in preparation for a no-deal Brexit, according to a report from The Times.
Mondelēz owns Cadbury, one of the UK’s largest confectionery brands, and the company’s European president Hubert Weber told The Times that the company was stockpiling confectionery products as a contingency plan in case no exit deal is agreed between the UK and European Union.
A ‘no-deal’ Brexit scenario would occur if the UK and the European Union do not sign a withdrawal agreement which establishes the future relationship between the UK and EU before the 29 March 2019, and an agreement has not been reached between the two parties at this time.
Weber said: “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.
“However, we are also preparing for a hard Brexit and, from a buffering perspective for Mondelēz, 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 a hard Brexit, as the UK is not self-sufficient in terms of food ingredients, so that could be a challenge.”
This news follows last month’s warning from the UK’s Food and Drink Federation, which claimed that a no-deal Brexit would represent a ‘grisly prospect’ for the UK’s food and drink industry, saying that the UK government “must deliver a deal with the EU” to protect the interests of UK shoppers and consumers.
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