Afternoon:
14°c
Stores fail to get the Easter chocs away
Rosamund Urwin20.04.09
An Easter egg mountain that would defeat even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's glutton Augustus Gloop has been left by the collapse of Woolworths.
Supermarkets bought up much of the stock left over by the closure of the High Street chain's stores, but now they have handed back hundreds of thousands of eggs to manufacturers after failing to clear their shelves.
According to The Grocer magazine, truckloads of chocolate have now been passed on to discount retailers, with eggs on sale for as little as 25p.
Woolworths normally claimed about 20% of the Easter chocolate market, making it Britain's biggest egg seller. Before its collapse in November, it had ordered 20 million eggs from suppliers such as Cadbury, Mars and Nestlé.
The supermarkets' decision to buy up the stock flooded the market, causing prices to dive. That was not enough to get rid of all the excess eggs. But Woolies' demise still caused supermarkets to enjoy a record Easter.
Market leader Tesco's website sales of eggs doubled and Sainsbury's sales rose 29%. Asda said sales of Easter products rose 13%.
