The supply crisis caused by the new import and export regulations in the United Kingdom is already visible in the Iberian country. This international logistics crisis is generating significant bottlenecks, which is increasing the shortage of products worldwide.
Lack of gin and vodka
Spirits are among the products that are becoming scarce. Beefeater and Seagram’s gins and Absolut vodka are the worst affected brands.
This is due to the large traffic jams in international seaports, which have not been able to unload the products for several weeks, and the lack of truck drivers who, due to the new regulations and the very long traffic jams that are generated, refuse to visit the Saxon country.
And the thing is that the National Federation of Leisure and Entertainment Entrepreneurs has already communicated its concern in this regard. The nightlife spaces are just beginning their recovery. Since Halloween is shortly celebrated and Christmas is only a few months away, these are key dates for the remainder of the year. And the proximity of these festive campaigns only increases their demand.
“Three weeks ago, the distributor told us that there was going to be a shortage of product. And so it was. Seagram’s has not come to us for two weeks, we have not anymore. Then we ran out of Absolut Vodka and today we can no longer order Beefeater.”[1]
It never rains but it pours
But the supply crisis due to Brexit has not only affected the alcoholic beverages sector itself. In addition, the shortage of glass to make the bottling of beverages must be added. And it is precisely the lack of stoppers and glass that is accelerating this logistics crisis.
At the moment, Spain is not one of the countries most affected. However, countries like Argentina have had to resort to factories outside the country.
An unstable recovery
The “end” of the pandemic, which implied a recovery in the sector, is now in check due to this global logistics crisis. Although Espirituosos España has admitted the stock outs this past Monday, they deny that it is due to an increase in alcohol consumption.
“The cases of stock outs are not being produced by an exponential increase in consumption. Moreover, there is still a long way before we manage to recover the pre-covid levels, something that in no case is expected to be reached until 2023 […] We must remember that the economic crisis from which we were recovering until the covid appeared, reduced spirits sales by over 30%.” [2]
Fuentes:
1 – El Periódico
2 – Espirituosos España
