Labour scarcity: Will we now have sufficient Xmas timber this 12 months?

A UK Christmas tree retailer has warned of a possible scarcity of actual timber this 12 months, as a result of on-going employees and HGV driver shortages, in addition to post-Brexit import laws.

In line with ChristmasTrees.co.uk, there’s a actual risk of an absence of timber this festive season for three principal causes.

The primary, is new import laws making importing timber into the UK tougher.

The second is the wrestle to search out labour wanted to take care of and harvest timber and the third, is that the price of uncooked supplies have soared, together with wooden for pallets, labour, feriliser, labels and transport.

The Christmas tree enterprise is only one of many UK sectors going through issues due labour shoratges, tighter import controls and materials costs rising.

In line with The British Christmas Tree Growers Affiliation, between eight and 10 million actual Christmas timber are offered within the UK every year, and it’s estimated that the UK often imports between a million and three million of these Christmas timber every year, from nations elsewhere in Europe.

Mark Rofe, who owns the net Christmas tree retailer Christmastrees.co.uk mentioned: “We’ve spoken to our UK growers and they’re all going through the identical challenges.

“They’re seeing a rise in demand for his or her product, particularly from shoppers who would often import their timber from Europe, however are eager to keep away from any red-tape that might enhance prices or trigger delays for what’s in fact a extremely seasonal and time-sensitive enterprise.”

“Our principal grower provides the market with 100,000 Christmas timber every year and employs between 50 and 70 staff throughout the peak of the season.

“In earlier years they have been reliant on foresters, principally from Jap Europe who would come over for the harvest after which would return to their residence nation afterwards, however for the reason that Brexit transition they only aren’t capable of come over to work now.

They’ve discovered it an actual problem to cowl their workforce with native labour.”

Whereas haulage prices have elevated, there’s additionally an actual nervousness concerning the capacity to truly get hold of lorries, Mark added, with one in every of his suppliers saying:

“It’s loopy; haulage is up 20% to 60%, and we don’t even know if we are going to get them”.

Mark concluded by saying it will likely be tougher to pay money for an actual Christmas tree this festive season, and that if you’ll be able to get one, you’ll be able to count on to be paying greater than you’d have in earlier years.

With Christmas timber taking a mean of 10 years to develop, it’s not a case of merely simply slicing extra timber, particularly whenever you don’t have the labour to reap them, or the haulage to move them throughout the nation, he mentioned.