Cadbury stockpiles chocolate ahead of Brexit

Cadbury’s parent company is stockpiling chocolates, biscuits and ingredients in preparation for a no-deal Brexit, according to The Times.

Hubert Weber, president of Mondelez Europe, told the newspaper that he would “prefer a good deal that allows the free flow of products as that would have less of an impact” on consumers.

“However, we are also preparing for a hard Brexit and, from a buffering perspective for Mondelez, we are stocking higher levels of ingredients and finished products, although you can only do so much because of the shelf life of our products,” he said.

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Weber added that unless a deal could be agreed by the time the UK leaves the EU in March next year, British shoppers could face higher prices and fewer choices.

Cadbury’s raw ingredients are quite easy to obtain, says Reuters correspondent Paul Sandle. “It doesn’t look like they’ll have a problem getting things like sugar and milk and so on. What could be more of a problem is moving around their finished goods that are made in Europe and in the UK,” he adds.

The UK government has already said that it will stockpile essential food and medicines in case Britain leaves the EU without a deal, and has already published advice to businesses and consumers on how to prepare for such a scenario.

Last month, the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said patients in the EU may not be able to receive medicines from the UK after Brexit if the country does not “prepare well,” The Guardian says.

The report from Mondelez comes a day after the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said he remained hopeful that a deal could be struck within six to eight weeks.