As if the problems caused by Covid and the conflict in Ukraine were not enough, for the last two weeks Spain has been crippled by a national truck drivers strike (in protest of recent fuel price increases).

Unfortunately this has completely halted the movement of goods in and out of our bodega – customer orders have not been collected, and supplies of dry goods (cartons, bottles, capsules) have started to dry up. It really could not happen at a worse time of year, as our customers begin to stock up for spring/summer, not to mention that a couple of weeks we have the Easter break.

Stock shortages have been experienced in every sector, shops and supermarkets running out of certain products, whilst their suppliers watch as fresh produce is lost completely. After all the recent problems this is almost the last straw!

To finish on a more positive note, with effect from today, the Spanish Government have reduced tax on fuel, and so trucks have now, suddenly re-appeared on our roads. We have today received deliveries of cartons and labels, and so we can now start work on the small number of orders that have actually been affected by the shortages.