Britons may face a tea shortage. All because of attacks by the Houthi rebels in Yemen on ships passing through the Red Sea. It is through this sea route that most of the tea that reaches the islands is transported.
British media reported on Tuesday that the first company to acknowledge the existence of the problem was the Sainsbury's supermarket chain. One of its supermarkets posted: “We are experiencing supply issues affecting black tea supplies nationwide. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope to return to full supply soon.” However, the company later confirmed that the issue affected the entire industry.
“Some glitches” in the supply of some types of tea
Tetley Tea, Britain's second-largest tea producer, then admitted it was monitoring tea supplies daily because imports were much lower than it would like due to disturbances in the Red Sea. However, the company added that it hopes to continue meeting normal demand through inventory in warehouses. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said it had observed “some disruption” to supplies of some black teas, but said it believed the impact on consumers would be minimal. Britain, the fifth largest tea importer in the world, imports more than half of its tea imports from Kenya and India, making it dependent on the Red Sea route. The tea leaves are shipped to the UK for processing and packaging. According to the Institute of Export and International Trade (IEIT), the UK is the world's tenth largest tea exporter.
Attacks in the Red Sea
Attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea have caused many shipping companies to redirect shipments to routes around Africa. However, this increases transportation time by approximately 10-14 days and increases costs. British forces, along with American forces, participated in air strikes against Houthi positions several times.
Read also: Bad news for trading. Large container ships change their routes
Main image source: Stock struggle
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