So, the waiting is finally over. Morrisons’ takeover of Safeway has been completed and the fresh produce suppliers to both chains are a step closer to knowing their eventual fates.

With the 14-month battle for the erstwhile number-four supermarket chain in the UK now ended, many suppliers to both Morrisons and Safeway will be on tenterhooks. Which way will Morrisons jump? Will it up the volumes being pulled through its own existing suppliers or will some or all of the Safeway supplier base retain their business under new paymasters?

Morrisons has of course made initial soundings to the group of affected suppliers, but as I write this, no-one can be 100 per cent sure of their position. I have heard suggestions of a likely timescale for plans to be implemented ranging from two to 18 months, which in fact suggests that only the board at Morrisons knows its true objectives.

What is for sure is that this marks a seachange in UK grocery retailing. Batten down the hatches for a vicious price war, which Asda kicked off last weekend with a pre-emptive strike at its ‘new’ high-street rival.

It is highly unlikely that any price war can be looked on as favourable to suppliers, but retailers in general are now in a position where they must have a sustainable supply base top of mind. Rationalisation is one thing, but if that means effectively putting large companies out of business, or at least downsizing their potential for future growth, the suppliers that remain must be left in a healthy position.

Otherwise, the situation might well arise that the retail customers kill off the very thing that has put them where they are today - choice. If the consumer wants it and the retailer wants to offer it, what happens when the retailer cannot find it in the supplier marketplace?

That is still some way off, but it is one logical scenario to the supplier shuffle that is currently taking place. I hope the retailers have a sound long-term logic behind what they are doing.