Grocery prices could surge by £1.7 billion due to the cost of carbon dioxide rising by as much as 3000 percent, a recent research has warned amid fear that gas prices could rise even further, or cut off completely, leading a repeat of last year’s shortage.
According to research by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), the UK’s food and drink sector could end up footing the mammoth extra bill for liquid CO2 if gas prices remain high.
The price of a tonne of liquid CO2 is up to 3000 percent higher than it was a year ago, currently as much as £3000 per tonne, compared to just £100 per tonne one year ago, the ECIU said.
Among other industries, gas is used in food and drink, including in the slaughter of pigs and chickens, to add fizz to beer and soft drinks, and in packaging foods safely.
Rampant inflation amid the cost-of-living crisis has caused production of carbon dioxide to be disrupted, thereby affecting industries reliant on gas.
Matt Williams, climate and land program lead at the ECIU, warned that the UK’s “reliance on fossil fuels … could bring the food and drink system to its knees.”
“Rising energy costs are creating an extra cost of hundreds of millions of pounds in the food and drink industry that customers may struggle to avoid,” reports quoted Williams as saying.
“If high gas prices, or even blackouts, force factories to close it could create real problems for farmers and the food and drink industry.”
Fay Jones, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and chair of the Farming All-Party Parliamentary Group, said that the price of gas is adding thousands of pounds to families’ energy bills.
“Now, like last autumn, it could affect supplies of CO2 and of fertilisers, and drive up the price of everything from beer to bacon,” Sky News quoted Jones as saying.
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