The sharp drop in the value of the pound could see Tesco unable to stock a number of your favourite household products.
Tesco are believed to be in a dispute with Unilever, the consumer company behind products including Ben & Jerry’s products, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Pot Noodles.
Unilever is one of the UK’s biggest suppliers of branded foods and household goods and the dispute could have serious consequences for both sides.
As reported in The Guardian, Unilever has been attempting to raise prices across a wide range of goods by 10%, blaming the Brexit-related falling value of the pound.
It us understood that Tesco refused to go along with the price increase, and as a result, a number of the aforementioned products, including Marmite, Knorr, Dove, Lynx, PG Tips, various butters and a host of fabric conditioners have been removed from Tesco stores.
We're currently experiencing availability issues on a number of Unilever products. We hope to have this issue resolved soon. TY
— Tesco (@Tesco) October 12, 2016
It is understood that Unilever approached a number of retailers to ask for price increases, but the stocking problem seems to only affect Tesco at the moment.
One well-informed source told The Guardian, “Unilever is using Brexit as an excuse to raise prices, even on products that are made in the UK.”
Bryan Roberts, a retail analyst at TCC Global, told the newspaper that Unilever’s attempt to increase prices was not surprising, but rather reflected attempts by a large number of supermarket suppliers to offset cost increases. He suggested there were likely to be more disputes between retailers and suppliers.
“A lot of suppliers are seeking to pass on price increases to retailers but in the current environment retailers are increasingly reluctant to take it. They want to keep prices as low as they can to increase their affordability against the competition.”
Currently Sainsbury’s and Ocado both list Unilever items.
At time of writing, Unilever declined to comment on the dispute with Tesco.
