Demand for canned food soars in UK after government stockpiling campaign

Britons have been buying noticeably more canned food since the government urged households to stock up, according to tinned tuna maker Princes.

The company, which is listed in London, said demand for goods including tinned fish, meat and vegetables had risen since the Be Ready campaign began on 22 October.

The public awareness campaign encourages households to prepare for up to three days in the event of disruption to essential services.

Separate industry figures from Worldpanel, also published on Tuesday, showed sales of essentials jumped across the grocery sector after the government advice.

Hand sanitiser sales were up 83 per cent year-on-year in the 10 days that followed, while bottled water sales rose 67 per cent. Sales of tinned and jarred goods lifted 37 per cent over the same period.

Worldpanel said the number of people buying tinned meat each day after the launch of the campaign rose by 43 per cent, the equivalent of an extra 400,000 shoppers a day.

Giuseppe Mastrolia, interim chief executive of Princes Group, said: “The increase in demand for our ambient food products following the UK government’s Be Ready campaign further reinforces the relevance of our core categories in providing affordable, nutritious and convenient food solutions.”

Price increases helped the firm's like-for-like sales rise 3.3 per cent in its third quarter to 30 September, as the group passed on higher costs amid inflation that rose during the Iran war.

It said around 70 per cent of the third-quarter sales performance came from price increases in July.

The group said it was starting talks with customers to push through further price rises to counter extra cost inflation.

“We continue to take proactive measures to protect profitability, through disciplined pricing and further customer negotiations to recover rising costs,” Mr Mastroli said.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said: “While prices are rising at a slower rate than at the beginning of the year, the direction of travel has changed.

“Household budgets have already taken a hit after the latest increase to the energy price cap arrived with the cold weather in October, and shoppers will be keeping a close eye on prices at the tills this winter.”

Shoppers began responding to the Be Ready public awareness campaign from 22 October.

The campaign encourages households to prepare for up to three days in the event of disruption to essential services.

Mr McKevitt added: “Shoppers clearly took notice of the Be Ready campaign, but this wasn’t panic buying, with less than a third of households buying bottled water in October.

“Growth came from more people adding the recommended items on the government’s checklist to their weekly shop, not from shoppers piling their trolleys high, which is very much in line with what the government wanted households to do.”