Tesco chairman John Allan has insisted that Britain’s supermarkets will be able to keep the country fed through the Coronavirus crisis and there’s no need to panic buy.

 

He told BBC Radio: “There’s plenty of product in the supply chain, there’s plenty of food at Tesco and other supermarkets, and I don’t think anybody needs to panic buy.

“We, and I’m sure our competitors, are re-filling our supply chains as rapidly as ever we can.”

The surge in panic buying has led Britain’s biggest supermarket Tesco to ration the sale of essential products to five packs at a time. These are: anti-bacterial products, dried pasta, tinned vegetables, toilet paper and tissues.

All supermarkets have been affected, and the likes of Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s seeing an influx of shoppers rushing to make sure their homes are fully stocked.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents most of Britain supermarkets, said the panic-buying had reached levels that are unprecedented outside of the Christmas period.

BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson OBE said: “Retailers are currently facing a rise in demand for certain products unprecedented outside of the Christmas period.

“However, this largely limited to hygiene and longer shelf-life food products.” She added: “Our members are working hard to ensure consumers have access to the products they need.

“Even where there are challenges, retailers are well-versed in providing effective measures to keep retail sites running smoothly, and they are working with suppliers to increase the supply of goods.”

A supermarket source said: “People aren’t buying everything and expecting the world to end, what they’re doing is taking a very considered view, which is ‘what are the things with long life that I can hold – pasta, UHT milk, frozen – and I’m going to buy 20-40% more of those categories.

“So the cumulative effect is it will put the factories, the depots and the shops under pressure in terms of replenishment.

“If you are planning on stocking up, just remember that your purchases will leave other people without, so be kind and considered before you put things in your basket. Only take what you really need, and remember that there could be somebody a few steps behind you who is much more in need of it than you.”