We have now finished our first month in the new Brexit reality and we are still figuring out the full short-term and long-term impacts.
A big issue we face in Ireland is that many imported products, although not imported from the UK, must still travel to us through the UK.
While we always give preference to Irish made products, many of the items we sell are imported from Europe and some from further afield. All of these items need to make their way in some shape or form to our island. The main way has always been via the UK land bridge – by ferry via ports in the Netherlands or Belgium to the UK, and then on to Ireland.
Our transport partners have been investigating different routes and ferry services to get to Ireland from France. Our Dutch and French suppliers will avail of these routes at times, but the haulage business is a game of Tetris – so it will not always be possible.
The impacts we have already experienced are delays in products getting to us, as well as an increase in transport costs, to cover things like additional paperwork. These extra costs are manageable for now and hopefully they will not increase too much more over the next few months.
Many of the brands affected by delays are UK brands or brands stuck in the UK due to customs paperwork. While we try to source alternatives, we envisage disruption in these products lines until mid-February. These brands include Clipper, Oatly, Whole Earth, Pukka and Meridian.
We endeavour to continue to provide our community with the products they desire. However, this is also a good time to pause and think about where our favourite items and their ingredients are sourced from. Often products labelled as Irish cannot source all their ingredients here, as they can’t be grown in our climate. We always strive to provide the best, sustainable products. You can read more about that work in our purchasing policy.
To find out the most up-to-date information on stock, please visit our stock updates page (updated weekly).