The boss of an emergency food supply company who experienced Brexit panic buying has seen a 1,200% spike in sales - because of coronavirus.
Emergency Food Storage UK saw an unexpected surge in sales of freeze dried meals snapped up by people worried food stocks would run out when the UK left the EU.
Sales of his 'Brexit Box' have tailed off, but founder James Blake said the recent panic over pneumonia-like coronavirus has caused a bizarre surge in sales.
He said normally - outside of Brexit panic buying - he'd sell around £6,700 worth of long-life emergency food products a week.
But in the last six days he's sold around £87,500 worth of goods - as much as he'd usually sell in three MONTHS - an increase of 1,206%.
The products include freeze dried meals such as spicy pasta arribiata, five bean cassoulet and vegetable chipotle chilli.
James said "99%" of customers this week told him they are making purchases because they are scared coronavirus will reach the UK, and food imports will be halted.
The businessman, who is based in Leeds, Yorkshire, said: "We have made a quarter of our normal annual trade turnover in less than a week, so we've made roughly £87,500 in sales.
"It's been insane.
"Whilst the Brexit panic meant we were selling out of 'Brexit Boxes', this coronavirus threat has seen us selling out of all of our food products four times in the last week.
"As all of our food is being bought so fast, it's been very hard to keep on top of the demand and we're constantly running out of stock.
"Our most popular product is always the three month emergency food packs which costs £410, and that has stayed as the most popular product to buy during this surge.
"It's mostly individuals who are buying our products at this point in time - although we do have the occasional business buying them as well.
"About 99% of our customers in the past week have said to us that they're buying our products because they are scared of coronavirus reaching the UK.
"You like to think that we're protected because we're this little island, but if coronavirus did reach the UK and we had to shut the borders, then supermarkets would run out of food stock.
"Whilst food from supermarkets will go out of date quickly, our food has a shelf life of 25 years, so if you didn't need it now, then it would keep for the next big emergency.
"People just want to be prepared in case Britain is affected.
"We know virus' mutate quickly and are hard to contain, so our customers want to make sure they're sorted just in case."
Emergency Food Storage UK sells rations of food and water to people who
want to be prepared in the event of an emergency.
Their most popular product is their three month emergency food pack which provides individuals with 90 days worth of meals inside freeze dried food packets.
With a no deal Brexit looking to be a likely outcome last year, the company created the 'Brexit Box' which contains enough food for one person to survive on for a month.
At £375 it holds 60 servings of main meals, 48 meat portions, a water filter and a firestarter, and lasts 25 years.
The emergency food supply box was popular, but sales tapered off after a Brexit deal was agreed.
James said: "We've sold between 800 and 1,000 Brexit boxes in total, so it has definitely been a successful product, but people just aren't as worried now there's a deal in place.
"People were concerned there'd be some problems at the ports affecting food imports and wanted something in place to protect themselves, so we created the Brexit Box."
