As the country’s supply chain has been negatively impacted by the Ukraine war, some UK supermarkets have set limits on the cooking oil each customer can buy.
Grocery chain Tesco limited sales to three oil products per customer, and Waitrose and Morrisons to two.
The UK’s sunflower oil supply is mostly from Ukraine. Disruptions in the import chain caused a decrease in stocks and an increase in demand for alternative products.
British Retail Consortium, the organization representing retail trade in the UK, stated that the restrictions are temporary and noted that the aim is “to enable everyone to access the products”.
Olive oil and canola oil are also included in the restrictions imposed by the markets on both in-market and online sales.
Although posts have been shared on social media that a similar limitation is applied in the Icelandic market chain, no comment has yet been received from the chain officials.
Grocery expert Ged Futter emphasized that customers have many alternatives for cooking oil.
On the other hand, Futter also warned that it may be harder to find sunflower oil on the shelves in the coming months, although it has been delayed for now due to restrictions.
In Sainsbury’s and Asda markets, no limit has been applied to cooking oils so far.
Since January, the price of a liter of sunflower oil has risen by an average of 10 percent to 1.26 pounds, according to data from market review body Assosia.
There was a 6 percent increase in prices for five-liter bottles.
Other food manufacturers who use sunflower oil in their products also express their concerns about the decrease in these products.