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Business

U.S. FTC probes Pepsi, Coca-Cola over price discrimination – Politico

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Jan 9 (Reuters) – Beverage giants Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) and PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O) are under preliminary investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over potential price discrimination in the soft drink market, Politico reported on Monday citing sources.

The pricing strategies of both companies are being scrutinized under the Robinson-Patman Act, the report said.

The U.S. antitrust law prevents large franchises and chains from engaging in price discrimination against small businesses.

The FTC reached out to large retailers, including Walmart Inc (WMT.N), for at least a month seeking data and other information on how they purchase and price soft drinks, two of the sources told Politico. Walmart is currently not a target in the investigation, according to the report.

FTC, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Walmart did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments.

Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Exclusive: PepsiCo to roll out 100 Tesla Semis in 2023, exec says

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NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 16 (Reuters) – PepsiCo plans to roll out 100 heavy-duty Tesla Semis in 2023, when it will start using the electric trucks to make deliveries to customers like Walmart and Kroger, the soda maker’s top fleet official told Reuters on Friday.

PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O), which ordered the big trucks in 2017, is purchasing them “outright” and is also upgrading its plants, including installing four 750-kilowatt Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) charging stalls at both its Modesto and Sacramento locations in California, PepsiCo Vice President Mike O’Connell said in an interview. A $15.4 million state grant and $40,000 federal subsidy per vehicle helps offset part of the costs.

“It’s a great starting point to electrify,” said O’Connell, who oversees the company’s fleet of vehicles.

“Like any early technology, the incentives help us build out the program,” he said, adding that there were “lots” of development and infrastructure costs.

PepsiCo is the first company to experiment with the battery-powered Tesla Semis as a way of cutting its environmental impact. read more

United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) and food delivery company Sysco Corp (SYY.N) have also reserved the trucks, while retailer Walmart Inc (WMT.N) is testing alternatives.

PepsiCo’s plans to use the Semis have been reported, but O’Connell provided new details on how the company is using them and its timeline for deploying them. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk initially said the trucks would be in production by 2019, but that was delayed due to battery constraints.

PepsiCo said it plans to deploy 15 trucks from Modesto and 21 from Sacramento. It is unclear where the others will be based but O’Connell said the firm is targeting rolling out the Semis in the central United States next, and then the East Coast.

The company’s Frito-Lay division sells lightweight food products, making it a good candidate for electric trucks, which have heavy batteries that could limit cargo capacity.

The Semis will haul Frito-Lay food products for around 425 miles (684 km), but for heavier loads of sodas, the trucks will initially do shorter trips of around 100 miles (160 km), O’Connell said. PepsiCo then will also use the Semis to haul beverages in the “400 to 500 mile range as well,” O’Connell said.

“Dragging a trailer full of chips around is not the most intense, tough ask,” said Oliver Dixon, senior analyst at consultancy Guidehouse.

“I still believe that Tesla has an awful lot to prove to the broader commercial vehicle marketplace,” Dixon said, citing Tesla’s unwillingness to offer information on payload and pricing.

PepsiCo has earmarked some of the trucks planned for the Sacramento location to make deliveries to Walmart and grocers such as Kroger Co (KR.N) and Albertsons Cos Inc (ACI.N). The trucks at the Modesto Frito-Lay plant have just gone to PepsiCo distribution centers, O’Connell said.

All of the Semis going to PepsiCo will have a 500-mile (805-km) range. O’Connell added that he is not aware of when Tesla will start deploying 300-mile (480-km) trucks. When Tesla starts building them, PepsiCo “will rotate those up” into its fleet, he said.

PepsiCo declined to share details on the price of the trucks, a figure that Tesla has kept quiet. Competing vehicles sell for $230,000 to $240,000, said Mark Barrott of consulting firm Plante Moran. He added that the 500-mile range Tesla Semi could be priced higher because its 1,000-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack is about twice the size of many of its rivals.

“We keep the trucks for a million miles, seven years,” O’Connell said. “The operating costs over time will pay back.”

The Gatorade maker declined to share specifics on the weight of the trucks, another closely guarded secret by Tesla.

He said Tesla did not help pay for the trucks’ megachargers but provided design and engineering services for the facilities, which come with solar and battery storage systems.

O’Connell said that a 425-mile (684-km) trip carrying Frito-Lay products brings the Semi’s battery down to roughly 20%, and recharging it takes around 35 to 45 minutes.

Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York and Hyun Joo Jin in San Francisco; additional reporting by Joe White and Siddharth Cavale; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Rosalba O’Brien

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jessica DiNapoli

Thomson Reuters

New York-based reporter covering U.S. consumer products spanning from paper towels to packaged food, the companies that make them and how they’re responding to the economy. Previously reported on corporate boards and distressed companies.

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Business

Musk delivers first Tesla truck, but no update on output, pricing

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  • Tesla ships first Semi to PepsiCo five years after unveiling it
  • No details on orders or capacity for electric truck
  • Semi uses existing Tesla motors, to feature new Supercharger

Dec 1 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk delivered the company’s first heavy-duty Semi on Thursday to PepsiCo (PEP.O) without offering updated forecasts for the truck’s pricing, production plans or how much cargo it could haul.

Musk, who appeared onstage at an event at Tesla’s Nevada plant, said the battery-powered, long-haul truck would reduce highway emissions, outperform existing diesel models on power and safety and spin-off a fast-charging technology Tesla would use in its upcoming Cybertruck pickup.

“If you’re a trucker and you want the most badass rig on the road, this is it,” Musk said, noting that it was five years since Tesla had announced it was developing the all-electric truck. Still, industry experts remain skeptical that battery electric trucks can take the strain of hauling hefty loads for hundreds of miles economically.

At Musk’s first Tesla reveal since taking over Twitter – an acquisition some investors worry has become a distraction – the company did not announce pricing for the Semi, provide details on variants of the truck it had initially projected or supply a forecast for deliveries to PepsiCo or other customers. Tesla said it would begin using the Semi to ship parts to its plant in Fremont, California.

In 2017, Tesla had said the 300-mile range version of the Semi would cost $150,000, and the 500-mile version $180,000, but Tesla’s passenger electric vehicle prices have increased sharply since then.

Robyn Denholm, chair of Tesla, recently said the automaker might produce 100 Semis this year. Musk has said Tesla would aim to produce 50,000 of the trucks in 2024.

PepsiCo, which completed its first cargo run with the Tesla truck to deliver snacks for those attending the Nevada launch event, had ordered 100 trucks in 2017.

Brewer Anheuser-Busch (ABI.BR), United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) and Walmart Inc (WMT.N) were among other companies that had reserved the Semi. Tesla did not provide details on orders or deliveries to customers, nor an estimate on what the total cost of ownership for future buyers would be compared to diesel alternatives.

‘NOT IMPRESSIVE’

Musk said the Semi has been doing test runs between Tesla’s Sparks, Nevada factory and its plant in Fremont, California. Tesla said it had completed a 500-mile drive on a single charge, with the Semi and cargo weighing in at 81,000 pounds in total.

Tesla did not disclose the weight of an unloaded Semi, one key specification analysts had hoped to learn and an important consideration for the efficiency of electric trucks.

Musk has spoken in the past about the prospect of fully autonomous trucks. Tesla did not provide details on how Tesla’s driver assistance systems would function in the Semi it unveiled on Thursday or future versions.

[1/5] Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk waves near Tesla Semi electric trucks during a live-streamed unveiling in Nevada, U.S. December 1, 2022, in this still image taken from video. Tesla/Handout via REUTERS

The Semi delivery presentation ended without Musk taking questions, as he often does at Tesla events.

“Not very impressive – moving a cargo of chips (average weight per pack 52 grams) cannot in any way be said to be definitive proof of concept,” said Oliver Dixon, senior analyst at consultancy Guidehouse.

Tesla had initially set a production target for 2019 for the Semi, which was first unveiled in 2017. In the years since, rivals have begun to sell battery-powered trucks of their own.

Daimler’s (MBGn.DE) Freightliner, Volvo (VOLVb.ST), startup Nikola (NKLA.O) and Renault (RENA.PA) are among Tesla’s competitors in developing alternatives to combustion-engine trucks.

Walmart (WMT.N), for instance, has said it has been testing Freightliner’s eCascadia and Nikola’s Tre BEV trucks in California.

‘LIKE A CHEETAH’

The Semi is capable of charging at 1 megawatt and has liquid-cooling technology in the charging cable in an updated version of Tesla’s Supercharger that will be made available to the Cybertruck, Musk said. The Cybertruck is scheduled to go into production in 2023.

Trucks in Semi’s category represent just 1% of U.S. vehicle sales but 20% of overall vehicle emissions, Tesla said.

Tesla said other, future vehicles would use powertrain technology developed for the Semi without providing details. The Semi uses three electric motors developed for Tesla’s performance version of its Model S, with only one of them engaged at highway speed and two in reserve for when the truck needs to accelerate, a feature that makes the truck more energy-efficient, Musk said.

“This thing has crazy power relative to a diesel truck,” Musk said. “Basically it’s like an elephant moving like a cheetah.”

In a slide displayed as part of Musk’s presentation, Tesla showed an image of a future “robotaxi” in development with a mock-up of the future car covered under a tarp.

The presentation took place after Tesla shares closed at $194.70. The stock has fallen about 45% so far this year, losing about $500 billion in market capitalisation, down to about $615 billion.

Among factors cited by investors have been Musk’s sales of Tesla shares to finance his takeover of Twitter, signs that a slowing global economy has started to cut into demand for Tesla’s premium-priced cars, and a warning by the company that it might not meet its target to grow deliveries by 50% this year.

Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell

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Business

Exclusive: Tesla plans mass production start for Cybertruck at end of 2023

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Nov 1 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) aims to start mass production of its Cybertruck at the end of 2023, two years after the initial target for the long-awaited pickup truck Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled in 2019, two people with knowledge of the plans told Reuters.

Tesla said last month that it was working on readying its Austin, Texas plant to build the new model with “early production” set to start in the middle of 2023. “We’re in the final lap for Cybertruck,” Musk told a conference call with financial analysts.

A gradual ramp in the second half of next year to full output for the sharp-angled electric truck would mean that Tesla would not be recording revenue until early 2024 for a full-quarter of production on a new model seen as key to its growth.

It would also mean a wait of another year for the estimated hundreds of thousands of potential buyers who have paid $100 to reserve a Cybertruck in one of the most highly anticipated, and closely tracked electric vehicle launches ever.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

It has not announced final pricing on the Cybertruck, showed the production version of the vehicle or specified how it will manage the battery supply for the new model.

In 2019, Tesla had projected an initial price of under $40,000, but prices for new vehicles have shot higher since then and Tesla has raised prices across its lineup.

CRACKED WINDOWS

Tesla’s Cybertruck is displayed at Manhattan’s Meatpacking District in New York City, U.S., May 8, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

Musk introduced Cybertruck in a 2019 reveal where the vehicle’s designer cracked the vehicle’s supposedly unbreakable “armor glass” windows. The company has pushed back production timing three times since: from late 2021 to late 2022, then to early 2023 and most recently to the mid-2023 target for initial production.

The launch of the Cybertruck will give Tesla an EV entrant in one of the most profitable segments of the U.S. market and a competitor to electric pickups from the likes of Ford Motor Co (F.N) and Rivian Automotive (RIVN.O), both of which have launched models in still-limited numbers.

In January, Musk had cited shortages in sourcing components as the reason for pushing the launch of Cybertruck into 2023.

In May, Tesla stopped taking orders for the Cybertruck outside North America. Musk said then the company had “more orders of the first Cybertrucks than we could possibly fulfill for three years after the start of production.”

Automakers often ramp production slowly for an all-new model like the Cybertruck.

Analysts have also cautioned that a weakening global economy will start to weigh on sales for Tesla, which has so far been able to sell every car it makes. Musk has said he expected a coming recession would last “probably until Spring of ’24.”

IDRA Group, the Italian company making the Giga Press that will be used for die casting parts for the Cybertruck, said in a LinkedIn post last week that the 9,000-ton machine for truck part production was packed and ready to be shipped.

The post did not name Tesla. Tesla has been using the Giga Press to cut the cost and complexity of production of its Model Y, an innovation other automakers, including Toyota, have studied.

Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco, Zhang Yan in Shanghai; Writing by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Golden arches to go dark in Russia as McDonald’s exits after 30 years

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May 16 (Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) on Monday became one of the biggest global names to exit Russia, laying out plans to sell all its restaurants after operating for more than 30 years in the country following its invasion of Ukraine.

The world’s largest burger chain, which owns about 84% of its nearly 850 restaurants in Russia, will take a related non-cash charge of up to $1.4 billion.

McDonald’s had in March decided to close its restaurants in the country, including the iconic Pushkin Square location in central Moscow – a symbol of flourishing American capitalism in the dying embers of the Soviet Union.

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In the Russia of the early nineties, the burger chain became a way to sample Western food and spirit for millions of people, even though the cost of one burger was several times bigger than many city dwellers’ daily budgets.

“Some might argue that providing access to food and continuing to employ tens of thousands of ordinary citizens is surely the right thing to do,” Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said in a letter to employees. “But it is impossible to ignore the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.”

Though a vast majority of the stores in Russia are closed, a few franchised stores have stayed open, cashing in on its skyrocketing popularity. It generated about 9%, or $2 billion, of its revenue from Russia and Ukraine last year.

A logo of the McDonald’s restaurant is seen in the window with a reflection of Kremlin’s tower in central Moscow, Russia March 9, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

Over the weekend, long, snaking queues were seen at the restaurant in Moscow’s Leningradsky Station, one of the capital’s only branches that has remained open, social media footage showed.

McDonald’s said it was looking to sell its restaurants in Russia to a local buyer, but will retain its trademarks.

“Given the circumstances of the sale, the financial challenges faced by potential Russian buyers, and the fact that McDonald’s will not license its brand name or identity, it is unlikely the sale price will be anywhere near the pre-invasion book value of the business,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said.

McDonald’s said it would ensure its 62,000 employees in Russia continue to be paid until the close of any transaction and that they have future jobs with any potential buyer.

After McDonald’s decision to close stores in March, several American brands including Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O), PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O) and Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) followed suit, scrambling to comply with sanctions and deal with threats from the Kremlin that foreign-owned assets may be seized. read more

“I would not be surprised to see other companies follow McDonald’s lead of exiting the market,” Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbrough said.

Earlier in the day, French carmaker Renault (RENA.PA) said it would sell its majority stake in Avtovaz (AVAZI_p.MM) to a Russian science institute. read more

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Reporting by Uday Sampath and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Arun Koyyur

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Nestle, tobacco groups latest companies to pull back from Russia

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March 9 (Reuters) – Nestle(NESN.S), Philip Morris (PM.N)and Imperial Brands (IMB.L)joined the list of multinationals stepping back from Russia on Wednesday as pressure mounts from consumers in the West to take a stand against the invasion of Ukraine.

The world’s biggest packaged food group fell into line with rivals Procter & Gamble (PG.N) and Unilever (ULVR.L) in halting investment in Russia, while cigarette maker Philip Morris said it would scale down manufacturing and Imperial went further and suspended it.

The moves came after Coca-Cola (KO.N) and McDonald’s (MCD.N) halted sales in Russia, where a senior member of the ruling party has warned that foreign firms which close down could see their operations nationalised. read more

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McDonald’s said the temporary closure of its 847 stores in the country would cost it $50 million a month. read more

Sportswear firm Adidas (ADSGn.DE)also quantified the cost of scaling back its operations, saying it would take a hit to sales of up to 250 million euros. read more

PepsiCo (PEP.O) and Starbucks (SBUX.O) have also joined the dozens of global companies closing stores, factories or exiting investments to comply with sanctions or due to supply disruptions. read more

Those supply hurdles include the world’s top three shipping giants suspending container routes.

Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N), parent of fried chicken giant KFC, said it was pausing investments in Russia, a market that helped it achieve record development last year. read more

‘LAWS OF WAR’

In response to the exodus, Andrei Turchak, secretary of the ruling United Russia party’s general council, warned that Moscow might nationalise idled foreign assets.

“United Russia proposes nationalising production plants of the companies that announce their exit and the closure of production in Russia during the special operation in Ukraine,” Turchak wrote in a statement published on the party’s website on Monday evening. read more

The statement named Finnish privately owned food companies Fazer, Valio and Paulig as the latest to announce closures.

“We will take tough retaliatory measures, acting in accordance with the laws of war,” Turchak said.

SANCTIONS

Moscow, which calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation”, has been hit by sweeping Western sanctions that have choked trade, led to the collapse of the rouble and further isolated the country.

Banks and billionaires have also been targeted, with the European Commission preparing new sanctions targeting additional Russian oligarchs and politicians and three Belarusian banks, Reuters reported. read more

While the war in Ukraine and the sanctions have bolstered prices for commodities which Russia exports such as oil, natural gas and titanium, those sanctions have largely barred Moscow from taking advantage of the high prices.

On Tuesday the United States banned Russian oil imports. read more

U.S. oilfield services company Schlumberger (SLB.N), which derives about 5% of its revenue from Russia, said the ongoing conflict would likely hurt its results this quarter. read more

Global commodities trader Trafigura Group raised a $1.2 billion revolving credit facility from banks to help address soaring energy and commodity prices. read more

Norway’s Yara (YAR.OL), a top fertiliser maker, said on Wednesday it would curtail ammonia and urea output in Italy and France due to surging gas prices.

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Reporting by Reuters bureaux; writing by Sayantani Ghosh and Paul Sandle; editing by Jason Neely and Jane Merriman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Uniqlo owner stays put in Russia as Levi, AMEX and others sever ties

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  • Uniqlo’s Russian stores to stay open
  • Danone suspends investments in country
  • KPMG, PwC, EY, Deloitte all cut ties with local units
  • American Express calls Ukraine attack ‘unjustified’

March 7 (Reuters) – Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing (9983.T) will keep its stores in Russia open, joining a small group of international firms that are staying put even as dozens of big brands temporarily shutter operations or exit the country over its invasion of Ukraine.

Political pressure is building on companies to halt business in Russia, while operations have also been complicated by sweeping sanctions affecting everything from global payments systems to a range of high-tech products.

Large shippers have suspended container routes to and from Russia and many Western companies from Nike Inc and home furnishings giant Ikea to energy majors BP and Shell (SHEL.L) have closed shop or announced plans to exit the country.

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“Clothing is a necessity of life. The people of Russia have the same right to live as we do,” said Fast Retailing CEO Tadashi Yanai in remarks first reported by Nikkei, adding that every country should oppose war.

A spokesperson told Reuters the company had seen no noticeable impact on its supply chain or logistics in Russia, where Uniqlo has 49 stores.

In contrast, Levi Strauss & Co (LEVI.N) suspended its Russian operations, including any new investments.

The Big Four accounting firms KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte moved one by one to cut their ties with Russia, as did credit card company American Express (AXP.N).

Dairy cooperative Arla Foods, French yoghurt maker Danone (DANO.PA) and Belgian chemicals group Solvay (SOLB.BR) also suspended operations or investment in the country, while the RIA Novosti news agency cited carmaker Nissan as saying it would halt production at its factory in St Petersburg. read more

Nissan said last week it was suspending vehicle exports to Russia, joining peers like General Motors Co (GM.N) and Sweden’s Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST).

The sun sets behind the skyscrapers of the Moscow International Business Centre, also known as “Moskva-City”, in Moscow, Russia April 23, 2018. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov

Among companies continuing to operate in Russia were McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) and PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O), prompting New York state’s pension fund – a shareholder in the pair – to urge them and others to consider pausing their operations there. read more

Russia announced new “humanitarian corridors” on Monday to transport Ukrainians trapped under its bombardment – to Russia itself and its ally Belarus, a move immediately denounced by Kyiv as an immoral stunt. read more

Russia calls the campaign it launched on Feb. 24 a “special military operation”. It denies attacking civilian areas and says it has no plans to occupy Ukraine.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new media law on Friday, Chinese-owned video app TikTok said it would suspend live-streaming and the uploading of videos to its platform in Russia. read more

“We have no choice but to suspend livestreaming and new content to our video service while we review the safety implications of this law,” it said in a series of Twitter posts on Sunday.

‘UNJUSTIFIED ATTACK’

Many companies have strongly condemned Russia’s actions as they suspended services in the country.

“In light of Russia’s ongoing, unjustified attack on the people of Ukraine, American Express is suspending all operations in Russia,” AMEX said on its website. read more

Netflix , which had already temporarily stopped future projects and acquisitions in Russia, suspended its service “given the situation on the ground”, a spokesperson said. read more

KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte all said they would sever links with their Russian operations, affecting thousands of staff. read more

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Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru, Chris Gallagher in Washington, DC, Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Writing by Anna Driver and Sayantani Ghosh; editing by Diane Craft, Kirsten Donovan, Bernadette Baum and Susan Fenton

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UK vows to manage fallout from soaring gas prices

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  • Business minister says he will protect customers
  • Minister to continue to meet industry representatives
  • Lack of CO2 threatens meat supply
  • Small energy providers seen at risk

LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Britain said on Saturday it would work with the energy industry to try to stem the fallout from soaring gas prices after fears grew that more energy providers and food producers would struggle to operate with such high costs.

Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said he had been reassured that the security of gas supply was not a cause for immediate concern but he would work with providers to “manage the wider implications of the global gas price increase”.

Kwarteng held emergency talks with executives from National Grid (NG.L), Centrica (CNA.L), EDF (EDF.PA) and the regulator Ofgem on Saturday and is due to hold further discussions with industry figures on Sunday and Monday.

A jump in gas prices has already forced several domestic energy suppliers out of business and has shut fertiliser plants that also produce carbon dioxide, used to stun animals before slaughter and prolong the shelf-life of food. read more

Consumer groups and opposition politicians have warned that some customers and businesses will struggle to pay higher bills. The BBC reported that at least four small British energy companies were expected to go bust next week.

The Business department said the pressures facing companies was discussed during the meeting. Kwarteng said no customer would go without gas or electricity because an alternative supplier would be found if one went bust.

“Protecting customers during a time of heightened global gas prices is an absolute priority,” he said on Twitter.

RENEWABLES

The government has been moved to act after low gas storage levels, decreased supplies from Russia, demand from Asia, low renewables output and nuclear maintenance outages combined to more than triple European gas prices this year, hitting record highs. read more

The impact was immediately felt in the UK food sector where the shortage of CO2, also used in beer, cider and soft drinks, compounded an acute shortage of truck drivers, which has been blamed on the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit.

Nick Allen of the British Meat Processors Association said on Saturday the pig sector was two weeks away from hitting the buffers, while the British Poultry Council said its members were on a “knife-edge” as suppliers could only guarantee deliveries up to 24-hours in advance.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” Allen told Reuters, adding that given the exceptional circumstances, the government needed to either subsidise the power supply to maintain fertiliser production or source CO2 from elsewhere.

Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland Foods, said a CO2 shortage would hit meat products, atmospheric packaged products such as cheese and salads, and long life bakery items.

“We need to sort it, quickly,” he said.

Dermot Nolan, former head of Ofgem, told the BBC he expected prices to stay high for up to four months and it was not clear what the government could do to affect market rates – meaning they will remain a focal point in the run-up to the COP26 climate conference in Scotland in November, where governments will seek to agree new rules to suppress emissions.

Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Edmund Blair, David Holmes and Gareth Jones

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