Tesco's Booker rations sales of lager and cider amid CO2 shortage

Wholesaler Booker has begun to ration sales of beer, cider and pop because of a shortage of carbon dioxide gas used in carbonated drinks amid a spike in demand from the recent heatwave and England’s buoyant World Cup campaign.

The Tesco-owned bulk retailer, which is used by bars, restaurants and traders ranging from convenience stores to restaurant chains Wagamama and Carluccio’s, is capping customers to 10 cases of beer, and five of cider or soft drinks.

"Due to the international shortage of CO2, we are experiencing some supply issues on soft drinks and beer," a Booker spokesperson said. “We are currently working hard with our suppliers to minimise the impact for our customers and to optimise availability with the stock that is available. Therefore, we cannot comment further at this stage.”

The largest source of food grade CO2 in Europe is from factories making ammonia, which is mainly used in fertiliser production and so companies tend to take maintenance shutdowns between outside the peak production output for fertilisers, which from August to March. The UK has been hardest hit in Europe, with only one major CO2 plant operating in June and limited imports available in the short-term.

Scotland's largest abattoir, Quality Pork Limited, has also halted operations because it ran out of CO2, the BBC reported, giving a last-minute reprieve to the 6,000 pigs a week that normally are killed on its production line.

Many meat producers have been forced to use lower levels of CO2 in their packaged meat, which requires them to shorten their 'sell by' deadline. The British Meat Processors' Association said this could cause supply chain issues.

Heineken said its John Smith's Extra Smooth and Amstel brands had been hit. The brewer said: “Like many other businesses in the food and drinks industry, we are affected by this shortage. We continue to work hard to resolve this issue as quickly as possible within our European supply base, and are working with customers to minimise disruption to their business.”

JD Wetherspoon said some of its pubs would be without John Smith's and Strongbow cider, which are both are made by Heineken. A spokesman said: "Wetherspoon has the advantage that it sources its wide range of drinks from a number of suppliers, so has not been too badly affected. Heineken has been the company with the biggest issues and they have told us that all is getting back to normal."

Ei Group, formerly known as Enterprise Inns, said it was working with suppliers to minimise any disruption to customers and publicans.

Supermarket Morrisons said some frozen products had been affected by the shortage and home deliveries of frozen food for Ocado and Morrisons customers have been hit because of a shortage of dry ice.

Coca-Cola said British production had been "temporarily paused", while small UK bottling firms have also been hit, with Midlands-based Holden's shutting down last Friday until further notice.