Which products are scarce on Britain's shelves?
New data published by the Office for National Statistics show patchy problems
Spooked by supply-chain disruptions, the Office for National Statistics has started to
monitor supermarket and grocery shops.
A survey of 288 stores suggests only patchy problems.
Just 5% of sites looked low on fresh vegetables, and 6% on toilet roll.
But 12% lacked chocolate selection boxes, 17% sparkling water and 18% frozen turkey.
When lorry-drivers are scarce, heavy, low-margin products
like bottled water are not a priority.
For other products, Christmas stockpiling could be a factor.
Sales of frozen poultry in October were up 27% compared with a year ago,
according to Kantar, a data firm, and those of Christmas puddings were up by a third.
Scattered shortages of paracetamol are probably also related to the season:
sales of cough medicine have doubled.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition
under the headline "Off the shelf"