WHIRLWIND OF FACTORS:
Thai labor woes, US crop replacements and African swine fever are adding to supply snarls, affecting salami stocks in Japan and fries in Singapore
A shortage of popular food items from popcorn to chili sauce is affecting restaurants and grocery stores this summer, a sign that the world’s immense supply chains remain under pressure.
Over the past few months, many seemingly random foods have become wildly expensive or unusually hard to find. These include lettuce in Australia, onions and salami in Japan and bottled beer in Germany, sending businesses scrambling to find alternatives.
The problem is usually not so much a lack of the product itself but a stretched global supply chain. It involves whirlwind of factors including adverse weather, the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions and rebounding demand.
Photo: AFP
When manufacturers cannot make enough glass bottles and aluminum cans, it trickles down to people’s ability to buy items such as soda and beer. A shipping container shortage and a tight labor market add to the challenges.
The invasion of Ukraine exacerbated those issues, cutting off supplies of grains and cooking oils, and causing food and energy prices to soar.
One of the newest additions to the list of hard-to-find items is sriracha, a Thai chili sauce that is also popular in the US. Its producer, Huy Fong Foods Inc, has been forced to suspend production due to a lack of chili peppers. Consumers are rushing to stock up, with some lamenting the “worst news of the year” and the “end of days.”
Beer drinkers in Germany are facing a shortage of bottles, partly because of the war in Ukraine, which supplies brewers with glass. Breweries in the beer-loving nation, which are already paying more for electricity and barley, are urging customers to return their empties, the New York Times reported.
A dearth of popcorn in the US has also become a source of worry for moviegoers as millions of people make their way to cinemas for the summer blockbuster season. Not only are containers like lids, cups and paper bags in short supply, farmers are giving up corn to switch to more lucrative crops.
Even vegetables are harder to come by. A lettuce shortage in Australia prompted KFC to put cabbage in its burgers. The fast food giant cited supply chain disruptions after heavy flooding in some areas earlier this year. In the UK, McDonald’s had to ration tomatoes, using one slice instead of two. The tomato shortage is due to the high cost of heating greenhouses with gas.
A global potato shortage made headlines after McDonald’s had to halt sales of large fries in several countries as supply chain snarls slowed shipments. Singapore’s KFC restaurants replaced fries with waffle hash. In Kenya, when KFC ran out of fries due to shipping delays, social media users called for a boycott of the fast food chain for not using locally sourced potatoes.
In Japan, shortages ranged from onions to salami, which meant eateries had to pull certain dishes from their menus. Saizeriya, a chain of family-style Italian restaurants, suspended a grilled chicken entree because of a labor shortage in Thailand. It also discontinued a salami appetizer after Japan suspended pork and cured meat imports from Italy following an African swine fever outbreak.
Madhav Durbha, vice president of supply-chain strategy at Coupa Software Inc, said business leaders need to rethink how and where they produce and source from. Through new technologies and better planning, they can reduce potential delays, lost revenues and “constant firefighting” to manage shortages.
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