Supermarkets have created a storm in a tea cup with their statements about tea shortages - Yorkshire Post Letters

I visited my local supermarket today to find that there were very few packs of tea left for sale. Following the announcement by certain supermarkets that the time in the supply chain had lengthened due to ships having to go round the Cape of Good Hope rather than through the Suez canal, this statement has obviously created panic buying by the public.

The supermarkets qualified their statement by saying there was no need to panic as the supply chain was robust enough to stand the longer delivery times. These statements were then amplified in the press and television media.

What is the point of the supermarkets making such a statement, and the media repeating it, if the supply chain was robust enough.

It just creates panic buying (echoes of Corporal Jones running round shouting ‘don’t panic, don’t panic’). If the supermarkets had said nothing and the media had taken a more responsible attitude there would not be a problem.

How many times in the past have we seen this happen? Alternatively, it might be that the supermarkets had large stocks of tea and it was just a way of selling off excess stock at high prices or is that too Machiavellian?