On my current European trip, I have had one particularly interesting discussion with Giannis Griogorios, the owner/operator of a refrigeration and logistics business in Volos, Greece.
He observed that European regulations were literally driving supply-chain providers out of business. He cited one case where the EU has decided that all plastic bottling must have a 50% paper content.
The capital required to achieve this is in the multi-millions, and none of the thousands of Greek drink manufacturers and bottlers can afford it.
And this at a time when the already weak economy is staggering under Covid.
“Only 3 companies Pepsi, Coca Cola and Nestle can afford to comply to the new packaging requirements. This will have a devastating effect on the rest of the industry”
Giannis welcomed what we were doing to reduce cost and complexity of compliance, but he stressed that the real problem is with the regulators.
“They need to come down and talk to real business' before they make well-meaning regulations that have disastrous economic consequences.
We will be visiting co-operatives in Italy and Spain to better understand the issues faced by producers in Europe.
Watch this space.