Waitrose starts rationing cooking oil Business

Waitrose has started rationing the number of bottles of cooking oil shoppers can buy amid sunflower oil shortages due to war in Ukraine.

Signs have been put up in some stores telling customers they can only buy two items per person.

A Waitrose spokesperson said: “We want to ensure customers continue to have a choice of cooking oil, so we ask that they buy no more than two units each.”

The supermarket is also restricting products online: “To help more customers get the products they need, you can only order two in the sunflower oil category.”

The move comes as global sunflower oil supplies are running out after the war in Ukraine.

Around 80% of the UK’s sunflower oil comes from Ukraine, with Russia making up a significant portion of the rest.

Food makers have warned that supplies of basic goods are likely to run out within weeks, with some businesses already in serious trouble.

Some growers were forced to use refined rapeseed oil before they could make the label switch due to shortages.

The cooperative said this week that it was working closely with suppliers to find alternatives such as rapeseed oil.