ABSTRACT
The war largely upset the pattern of Britain’s sources of food supply, and necessitated a transfer from former areas of supply of certain commodities to new sources, and for other foods at any rate it largely altered the balance of the sources of supply. In the war years, the main problem for Britain was not world shortage of supplies or any difficulties in currency after Lend-Lease was negotiated; it was largely a matter of shipping availabilities. If the ships were available, the food could be obtained. It was after the war that world shortages and currency complications began seriously to affect Britain’s food supplies. The main changes during the war were that Britain lost supplies from Europe and, after the Japanese conquests, from South-East Asia while during the later stages of the war supplies from Australia and New Zealand were diverted to feed troops in the Pacific.
