Weather highlights issues for Wales and south west supply

Wintry conditions in February failed to undermine food and drink availability in major supermarkets, but revealed supply chain weaknesses in Wales and south west England.

That was the verdict of the latest Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) UK on-shelf availability survey, which covers 200 products across supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda and is conducted six times a year.

Data from UK stores over a week showed a small decline in overall on-shelf availability, which stood at 96.7% versus 97.2% in December. ECR UK said this could be explained by normal variability in results rather than the weather. In addition, total figures were up on February 2008 and February 2007.

"Why? Because the weather had been forecast, giving people time to plan," said Karen Chalmers, senior business analyst at think tank IGD, of which ECR UK is a part. "You and I knew we could stockpile food, so there was more spent in store over this period." Similarly, the industry had built up food stocks beforehand to offset the effects of any disruption. "It would be fair to say the biggest buffer was stockpiling in the distribution centres."

The evolution of satellite navigation systems would also have made a difference in enabling drivers to avoid routes worst hit by the weather. However, ECR UK auditors could not reach stores in Wales and the south west, so availability there could not be measured.

"If our auditors couldn't access the stores to complete audits, it follows that shoppers, and more notably delivery vehicles, would experience the same issues," said ECR UK. "A theory supported by news stories that reported Bristol deliveries were seriously delayed and supermarkets in the area were running low on milk and bread."

Chalmers said transport routes to areas such as the south west were limited and if they failed it would cause a major problem for distributors.