Ministers have held talks with farmers and food industry representatives amid fears that the crisis in the Red Sea could lead to a rise in supermarket prices.

Discussions have been taking place in Whitehall to try to prevent the crisis caused by attacks by Houthi rebels on shipping pushing up inflation again.

Only a small proportion of UK food trade relies on Red Sea routes including the Suez Canal and Bab al-Mandab Strait, meaning the Government is not expecting any shortages of produce from the disruption.

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However, there are concerns among ministers that the crisis could have knock-on effects on the global supply chain and push up prices in supermarkets.

The Government has been in regular discussions with farmers and supermarkets to monitor the risks of the Red Sea crisis.

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with any potential disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.

“We closely monitor emerging risks around global supply chains and do not anticipate any food shortages as a result of disruption to Red Sea shipping routes.”

In a separate move, the Government is to share more information with UK businesses potentially affected by the Red Sea crisis to limit the damage from supply chain disruption, including delays to the imports of medicines to the NHS and other critical goods.

Under a new Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy being launched, firms will be able to report any extra red tape or other disruption affecting their imports of goods through an online portal.

The Government would then use the information to try to remove the barriers.

The strategy also includes research into how climate change is expected to affect key supply chains in the UK, based on how the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine disrupted trade.