Demand & customer trends
Beatson Clark plans £3.6 million investment in four palletisers
The Rotherham glass container manufacturer plans four new palletisers over the next 12 months, supporting both standard UK and Euro pallet formats.
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Demand & customer trends
Volumes, sectors and buying behaviour.
25 editor-reviewed updates · newest first
Demand & customer trends
Oval Group leases Dissen warehouse with 27,000 Euro-pallet spaces
Oval Group has leased GARBE Industrial's entire 19,500-square-metre Dissen logistics property in Germany. Fresh and temperature-controlled operations are scheduled to start in February 2027.
Demand & customer trends
Maersk plans seasonal service extension for South African grape exports
Maersk says it will extend its WAF7 service for South Africa’s grape season, while Tanzanian pulses and Kenya’s approaching mango season shape regional container demand.
Demand & customer trends
Pallet-Track backs Saddlers United community programme with £30,000
Pallet-Track says it is providing £30,000 to extend Walsall FC Foundation’s Saddlers United community programme for two seasons, alongside 500 matchday tickets for 2026–27. The project uses football and themed events to support community cohesion in Walsall.
Demand & customer trends
BRC calls for business rates freeze as inflation rises
Responding to consumer price data, the BRC's lead economist states headline inflation rose to 2.9% while food inflation held at 1.3%, and calls for a business rates freeze in the Autumn Budget to ease retailer cost pressures.
Timber & materials/prices
Government updates monthly building materials and components statistics
The Department for Business and Trade refreshed its monthly building materials and components statistics collection, the official series that tracks UK price and availability indices for construction materials including sawn wood and wood-based panels. Pallet makers use the series as a published reference point for input-cost movement rather than a pallet-specific price.
Source GOV.UK (Department for Business and Trade)
Original date 16 Sept 2026
Read the original update ↗
Demand & customer trends
Bank of England agents report subdued consumer spending growth
The Bank of England's own agents' summary says output and business confidence improved in some sectors while consumer spending growth remained subdued, and reports 2026 pay settlements averaging around 3.6%.
Demand & customer trends
RHA urges Budget support for hauliers as fuel costs rise
The RHA's own statement says rising oil and food price inflation is squeezing already thin haulage margins, and calls on the Chancellor to scrap planned fuel duty rises and introduce an essential user rebate.
Pooling
Brambles reports first-year progress against its 2030 sustainability programme
Brambles, the operator of CHEP, published its 2026 Sustainability Review covering the year to 30 June 2026, reporting a 36% cut in absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 16% cut in Scope 3 against a 2020 baseline, and a land-regeneration partnership in South Africa tied to its timber needs. The company describes its share-and-reuse model as an asset pool of 352 million pallets, crates and containers served through more than 750 service centres. Figures and targets are Brambles' own.
Demand & customer trends
BRC asks the Chancellor to raise the employer National Insurance threshold
The BRC's own letter to the Chancellor calls for a higher employer National Insurance threshold, stating retail employment costs have risen by GBP 6.5bn in two years while retail jobs fell by 115,000 over the same period.
Demand & customer trends
BRC reports shop price inflation at a two-year high
The BRC's own shop price index states UK shop price inflation rose to 1.5% year on year in August 2026, with its chief executive attributing part of the increase to higher energy, input and commodity costs.
Demand & customer trends
BRC says July sales growth was modest as summer spending came early
Responding to official retail figures, the BRC's lead economist says larger retailers saw only modest July sales growth as sustained warm weather pulled summer spending into earlier months, with footwear and household goods weak.