A leading food industry boss has warned that prices will spike as a result of the war in Ukraine. Ronald Kers, the boss of food firm 2 Sisters, told the BBC that the cost of food could rise by up to 15% this year. (The BBC)
Consumers around the world will feel the “enormous impact” of Russia’s war on Ukraine through sharply higher food prices and significant disruption to agricultural supply chains, according to industry executives and leading European officials. (The Financial Times £)
British farmers face rationing of fertiliser as sanctions on Russia stoke fears about availability, leading to warnings of food shortages and hefty price rises. (The Times £)
One of Ukraine’s biggest food producers has warned that British shoppers are facing sunflower oil shortages as Russia’s invasion threatens to disrupt the crucial planting season. (The Telegraph)
Michael Gleeson has stepped down as chief financial officer at Morrisons months after the supermarket chain was taken over by private equity and ahead of a major refinancing. (The Financial Times £)
The latest stage of the “robot wars” legal battle between Ocado and its Norwegian rival will land in London’s courts next week after an American investigation ruled that Ocado will not face an export ban on its robot technology. (The Times £)
The boss of BrewDog, James Watt, hired private investigators to obtain information about people whom he believed were taking part in a smear campaign against him and repeatedly accused one woman of being involved until she blocked him on social media. (The Guardian)
Marks & Spencer shareholders have put company executives on notice that they must stop the rot in its clothing business after the retailer unveiled an unusual “co-chief executive” structure last week. (The Times £)
Marks & Spencer is to put Early Learning Centre toy shops and Nobody’s Child fashion into some stores in a step-up of its strategy to sell external brands and increase its appeal to families. (The Guardian)
Jamie Oliver is scrambling to shut his Jamie’s Italian restaurant in Russia as he joins a rush of Western companies fleeing the country in response to Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine. (The Telegraph)
British American Tobacco is to quit Russia, one of its key markets, after facing mounting pressure in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. (The Times £)
Major UK businesses are lining up to offer jobs to Ukrainian refugees when they start to arrive in the UK. A group of more than 45 large businesses, including M&S and Asos, is pressing the government to make it easier for those driven out by Russia’s invasion to come to the UK. (The BBC)
Dairy farmers slaughter herds as costs rocket and milk prices spiral. Price surges and threats to supply have plunged Britain’s farmers, already punch drunk from the impacts of Brexit and Covid, into a crisis of even greater proportions. (The Times £)
The AA has raised hope that the record fuel prices, being hit across the UK daily in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will soon start to ease. (Sky News)
Hopes that the US agricultural export powerhouse will stop an emerging crisis in world wheat markets are likely to be misplaced, experts said. Most of this year’s American wheat crop is already planted, while soaring costs for fuel and fertiliser are blunting the economic incentives offered by Chicago wheat prices that this month reached $13.40 a bushel, an all-time high. (The Financial Times £)
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