The UK government has agreed a deal with US company, CF Industries, to restart CO2 production after high gas prices forced it to stop production, threatening food shortages.
In exchange for CF Fertilisers allowing the company to immediately restart operations the government will provide financial support towards the firm’s operating costs for 3 weeks ‘whilst the CO2 market adapts to global gas prices’.
Both the farming and food industries have warned that the public could begin to see gaps on supermarket shelves within days if there is no intervention in its supply. This is because gas is a vital element to the existence and maintenance of these industries.
For example, the livestock sector uses the gas in the slaughter process, packaging and chilling stages of meat production. The British Poultry Council (BPC) has warned that if there was to be any interruption in any of these stages then the supply of meat would be brought to a halt.
However, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has somewhat diminished fears surrounding imminent shortages. He suggested that this agreement will ensure that many of the critical industries that rely on a stable supply of CO2 have the resources they require to avoid any form of disruption.
That said, the British Meat Processors Association has said that this crisis has only served to highlight that the British food supply chain is ‘at the mercy of a small number of major fertiliser producers’.
Perhaps then there is a growing demand for greater diversity in the market in order to avoid such crisis in the future.