Business leaders fear more products could become 'shrinkflation' victims

Dairy Milk has become the latest victim of 'shrinkflation' as Cadbury has shrunk the size of its sharing bars by 10 per cent, but will not reduce the price for customers.

Beth Heath, of Shropshire Food and Drink and owner of events company Shropshire Festivals, said: "I suspect we’ll see many food businesses being forced to do the same.

"I hope that when consumers are thinking more about how they spend, they consider spending more on local food producers to keep the money within the region.

"That way they can enjoy quality products that haven’t had to travel, from their local farm shops, markets and food festivals.

"Ingredients, transportation and packaging have all increased, so ultimately businesses will have no choice but to start passing those costs on to stay afloat."

Shropshire Food and Drink is the brainchild of Beth and is an online platform dedicated to championing local food and drink businesses.

On Monday it launched a quarterly networking event where business owners can share knowledge and discuss the challenges facing the sector.

Beth added: "We brought together food producers at our first ‘Food For Thought’ networking event in partnership with the Regional Food Academy at Harper Adams University.

"There was a lot of concern raised about food security and the rising cost of ingredients. Producers want to innovate but that’s tough with the challenges of their bottom line. We all hope that the quality and passion of local food producers will continue to be supported, even if prices have to rise."

Another business experiencing inflationary pressures on raw materials, packaging and transport is Shrewsbury-based natural food company Purition.

Founder Edward Taylor said: "We're expecting raw materials to increase by 10 to 15 per cent this year, but we've seen at least one British produced ingredient increase by 300 per cent in the last 12 months.

"However, as a health food manufacture, I'd say chocolate bars shrinking in size by 10 per cent is actually a good thing."

Leanne Crowther, founder of Telford-based Flower & White, an innovator of light and indulgent, low calorie meringue confections, said: "As an SME we have absorbed many years of rising costs and with Brexit, Covid, transport and now utilities and minimum wage.

"All of these situations, as with the diabolic war in Ukraine, have a knock-on effect and consequences that are out of our control.

"Our business works unbelievably hard to innovate, not just through new products and best quality, but in everything that we have control over – from manufacturing efficiencies to the way we operate and sell our goods. The last two years have seen us shapeshift and make big changes to improve our cost base, finding internal and innovative solutions, so that we do not have to pass this on to consumers.

"To a certain extent we have ring-fenced our quality supply chain within the UK as this has been important to us as a sustainable business. But having said this, we are very aware of the difficulty ahead in terms of commodity goods shortage and price rises that will arise as a result."