Farmers and food producers in Europe have warned of seasonal shortages and significant price increases across a wide range of everyday products this winter, as they called for government support to offset surging energy costs.
Copa-Cogeca, the EU farmers’ union, and FoodDrink Europe and PFP, two of the big food producer associations, said their members had already begun to close operations and reduce their output, as they asked for the food chain to be exempt from any European plans to ration energy.
“The latest increases in energy prices, especially natural gas and electricity, threaten the continuity of agri-food production cycles and therefore the ability to continue delivering essential agricultural commodities, food products and feed materials,” they said in a statement ahead of an emergency meeting of EU energy ministers in Brussels.