Post-Christmas price rises of as much as 50% attributed to cost increases across supply chainIkea has increased the price of its flat-pack furniture by up to 50%, blaming supply chain costs caused by Covid-19, in a move that will further stoke growing …
Asia’s factory workers at the sharp end of the west’s supply chain crisis
Migrant workers ate and slept in factories swarming with Covid, sealed off from outside worldFor weeks, Hoang Thi Quynh* worked and slept inside a garment factory in Tien Giang province, in southern Vietnam. She would start her shift at 7.15am and then…
Operation Save Christmas: retailers’ desperate dash to meet demand
Large stores are having to be creative to meet booming online orders at a time of staff and stock shortagesAn army of 3,000 staff will fan out from Marks & Spencer’s head office this week with one mission in mind: meeting the Christmas boom.Staff w…
AO World slashes profit forecasts amid supply chain woes – business live
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsAO World warns of product shortages, rising price and shipping costsElectricals retailer flags poor availability of certain productsFirm made £10m pre-tax loss in first half of financial yearBai…
Why it’s high time to move on from ‘just-in-time’ supply chains | Kim Moody
This logistical model is the engine of breakneck capitalism. But its fragility is now being exposedA price shock on the global natural gas markets brings down several small energy providers, leaving customers without heating and facing rising fuel pric…
Energy crisis: Treasury reprimands Kwarteng after help for firms claim
Source close to Rishi Sunak accuses business secretary of ‘making up’ talks with chancellor about supportThe Treasury has issued an extraordinary reprimand to the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, after he suggested he was consulting the chancellor, …
Like it or not, with Nord Stream 2, Putin has a foot on the gas Europe badly needs
With Gazprom’s flagship pipeline poised to deliver energy under the Baltic, leaders have little choice but to do businessAfter years of debate in Germany and beyond, the Russian state-backed energy giant Gazprom confirmed last month that it had finish…
One in six adults in Great Britain not able to buy essential foods, ONS finds
Survey of impact of supply chain crisis in past fortnight also finds 15% could not buy fuelAlmost nine million people, representing one in six adults in Great Britain, have not been able to buy essential food items in the past two weeks because they we…
The Tories should take back control of food supply policy | Letter
Kate Howell says the value of sustainable producers and independent retailers needs to be recognised and supportedYour report from the Tory party conference cites Liz Truss’s view that the government is not responsible for food shortages in the shops (…