Summer 2018 brought us months of glorious sunshine, the World Cup, and not a single drop of rain for many. This has been the hottest summer since 1976 but what effect has this had on the food and drinks manufacturing industry?
In this blog, we explain the winners and losers of the summer heatwave 2018
The winners
It’s fair to say that the food and drinks industry as a whole had a fantastic summer with 36 pence of every pound being spent in food shops across the nation. But who saw the most growth this summer?
Ice cream retailers
Unsurprisingly, this heatwave had Britons licking their lips at the thought of an ice-cream which meant that ice-cream retailers were licking their lips in anticipation of increased sales. This year saw ice-cream sales surge by 17%. All in all, ice-cream sales amounted to roughly £375.4 million this summer.
Alcoholic drinks sales soar
The combination of the World Cup, Wimbledon, and the heatwave in a single week resulted in 50 million bottles and cans of beer being sold by Tesco. This same single week saw one million bottles of wine fly off the shelves too. Because of this, supermarket sales grew 3.6% in the 12 weeks leading up to July 15th (the day of the world cup final).
Waitrose saw the sale of Pimm’s rise by 21% compared the same week this time last year.
The losers
Unfortunately, not everyone had such a pleasant summer. Here are some of the businesses that struggled through the heat:
Farmers are concerned about the heatwave
The hot, dry weather has started to cause concern among farmers as their growing conditions deteriorate. These poor conditions have already led to rises in the price of carrots and lettuce, and now potentially potatoes too.
This could have a knock on effect to many different industries which need potatoes - from restaurants to food processing factories. Many may have forgotten that this year’s crops have had to survive “The Beast From The East” too. For these reasons, farmers are expecting lower yield this year, forcing the prices of potatoes to rise.
Carbon dioxide shortage
The CO2 shortage has also been on everyone’s minds this summer. With all of the meat and beer consumed, CO2 has been a staple in the production of much of the food and drink that constitute our diets. CO2 is used to put the fizz in these drinks and it’s also used as a humane way to stun animals before slaughter.
The reason for the shortage is because the vast majority of CO2 is produced as a by-product of ammonia reactions in fertiliser creation. The busy season for fertiliser sales is in the winter leading to many factories deciding to close down for maintenance this summer – traditionally, their slow period.
With all of these fertiliser factories closing down, the amount of CO2 being produced dropped dramatically. For food and drink retailers, this has meant that some pubs haven’t had the gas needed to keep their taps running and some alcoholic beverage distributors have been forced to ration their beer supply to their customers.
Non-food retailers didn’t shine this summer
Rail services across the country have suffered delays because of buckled tracks and overcrowded carriages. The prices of lower-end garden furniture has risen dramatically to meet demand and paddling pools are at a shortage too.
It seems that this heatwave has done wonders for much of the food manufacturing industry as well as giving us a nice tan.
Kick off autumn with b3
If you’re looking to take the next step in your food manufacturing career, get in touch with the b3 team. We offer a friendly and professional recruitment service throughout the whole of the UK.
For more information, call us on 01435 866000.