Shortage of Mars bars hits UK

A shortage of Mars bars has been reported from supermarkets as well as wholesalers as retailers have warned of weeks-long shortages. Mars Wrigley, the company behind Mars, Snickers, Bounty and Twix bars, said it was “experiencing high levels of demand”.

“Out of stock” messages have also appeared on supermarket websites with reports of food wholesalers also experiencing shortages.

"We buy from Cash & Carry wholesalers and we currently have no stock today because we couldn't get them. We think there is a shortage,” Joe Andreucci, owner of the Clam Shell takeaway on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, told The Telegraph.

Multi-packs of Mars, Snickers and Twix were unavailable on the Tesco website on Sunday night, although it did stock single bars. Only single bars of Mars could be bought on Asda's website while Waitrose, Morrisons and Sainsbury's were fully stocked on their Mars products, stated reports.

"We are experiencing high levels of demand on a number of our treats,” The Telegraph quoted a spokesman for Mars Wrigley as saying. “We are producing significant quantities and want to reassure the British public that our much-loved brands are still available nationwide.”

The company says on its website that “we can make nearly three million bars a day” at its factory in Slough, Berkshire, where the first bars were made by hand in 1932. Photos of a sticker left on an empty shelf in a Tesco in Walthamstow, north-east London, reportedly said that the next delivery was expected on September 10.

Nestlé, which makes KitKats and other chocolate brands, has blamed “significant and unprecedented cost inflation” for a 6.5 per cent rise in prices in the first half of this year.