I am curious why there are still gaps in our supermarket shelves.
Standouts for me are cornflour, icing sugar and sweetened condensed milk. All of which I have been looking for and can't find.
I thought that producers would have had plenty of time to get these to stores.
What gaps are you noticing and any theories as to why they are not available?
I know there has bene a greater demand for baking ingredients but thought they would have caught up by now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2020 12:06AM by helen.

All of your items are in full supply in Warkworth The last thing not in stock that I wanted was Thai curry paste, but that was a couple of weeks ago and the shelf has since been replenished.

I have wholemeal flour from a supermarket today yay!
Regards,
Dawn.

I am now in Hokitika and the local NW has been out of sweetened condensed milk since late March. The flour area is sparse as well.

I work in a supermarket in a provincial town & have noticed that despite the good supply of products for us to fill the shelves the demands are ongoing & relentless. I too have noticed that cornflour seems to barely be loaded onto the shelves & it is gone but our condensed milk & icing sugar levels have now seemed to stabilise.

I understand there was a fire in a/at the flour mill factory which affected supplies particularly the 1.5kg bags & packaging for the same in some areas during Level 4 - but truly the bulk buying of some products was eye opening (despite the requests to limit purchases of some products). As far as I know the supply lines have been fine, just trying to keep up with shoppers.
Also I understand there to be an order/delivery process so some stores may not get all of their orders supplied each week to ensure there is a fair supply of goods to all the supermarkets (so a proportion of icing sugar or flour may be delivered, but not the full amount ordered for).

The store I work in is gradually refilling shelves & it is as much a relief for us too to have things where they should be.
Good luck with your searches Helen, hopefully in the next week or two things will be back to pre Covid supermarket levels.

Cleaning supplies seem to be the ones worst hit here in Whitianga. It's been difficult to find the pump bottles of ordinary hand-wash, except for the most expensive brands. I also found it hard to find stain remover in a spray bottle. I've got powdered Sard and a block of Sard soap, but no spray available.

It's the price jumps that annoy me most. The two main brands of yoghurt powder nearly always had one or the other on special at around $3.50, normal price being about $4.50. Now I see they're labelled between $7 and $8. Many everyday items have risen by10c-20c. Specials on many items have either sold out by Wednesday or we're told stocks didn't arrive. Some of them are labelled 'while stocks last', which indicates there will be no rain checks given.

I was wondering if people stock up on imported food items like olive oils, Asian ingredients, olives etc in anticipation of limited supplies because of reduced flights, although I would think that more freight will come in by ships now rather than flights and that takes of course longer. Lorna, I can still get the Easiyo and Hansells yoghurt powders at the usual price but noticed that the special last week was about 50 cents higher. What you have to pay is outrageous and I thought Wanaka was expensive.

For me happiness was finding some baking paper. Double jhappiness when I found the Canesten(sp?). .
Flour is back here, but not in abundance. I managed to get cornflour.
I used the last of my sweetened condensed milk a couple of days ago but haven't added it to my list yet. I know you can make your own but it does seems time consuming and I would only do that if it was super important.
Also, I agree with you, Lorna. Little price rises on a lot of things, they all add up and the supermarkets were able to trade when other businesses were not. They also had to find supplies of various items. I have spoken with some of the smaller business owners and a few said it was (and maybe still is) touch and go as to whether they could survive, even with the subsidies.

Hi,

I’ve found these to be empty in my local supermarkets

Yeast
Cleaning products
Hand soap
Baking powder
Flour
Cornflour
Baking paper
Resealable bags

I hope it gets better


Zee xx

Personally I don't think our foodstuffs supermarket model is healthy, I would like to see some sort of break even supermarket system that was not out to make enormous profits but just needed to pay its way. It could work in competition to the foodstuffs and progressive model but be a government owned system, I don't really know but I think the chain is broken. We would have to assume if the foodstuffs owners can earn so well that the Progressive company must be making good $$ too.
When you see supermarket owners who have made around $60 million and joined the rich list and then the many people unable to afford groceries there is something wrong.
I have no issue with people earning good money and gathering wealth but it concerns me that the independent grocers can profit so much while people struggle to afford.

Oh and back on topic, I don't think Hokitika NW have had any sweetened condensed milk for 2 months and they were one of the first to run out of flour and not be able to get any more.
Here in our local Auckland NW we are seeing big gaps in the shelves in the baking section, flour seems restored but as said above cornflour and icing sugar are near impossible to find.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2020 11:41PM by helen.

The Fresh Choice closest to where I live had plenty of cornflour - that's where I found my wholemeal flour on Saturday.
Regards,
Dawn.

following on from your comment Helen about the unhealthy modelling of the supermarket profit system I agree with you.
I recall an announcement recently where we were told that they were currently trading at 145% margin from this time last year.
I thought but isnt that benefiting from a national crisis with the pandemic in full Level 4 mode & while I understand that making a profit is good, the ethics of being proud of that seemed wrong. Anyway just my tuppence worth there.

A NW owner told me that his revenue was up 60% over the last 2 months.
I see suppliers being constantly pressured to give discounts whereas the supermarkets just keep making more money.
Many people don't realise that specials are the suppliers cost not the supermarkets.
As I have said, I have no problem with people earning a good living and some earring masses - good on them, I just feel sad that suppliers and shoppers constantly feel the hit while supermarkets get fatter.

I absolutely agree Helen. The supermarkets are exploiting suppliers as well as shoppers and I would love to see a "break even" alternative set up. It could supply just plain everyday household necessities; for anything fancy or exotic shoppers could go to the normal supermarkets or to specialty foodmarkets such as Farro and Vetro..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2020 10:02AM by TPANDAV.

Lots of gaps at our local supermarket today, with several noted as "manufacturer out of stock".

Pams raspberry jam
Pams 5kg bags of flour
Edmonds dry yeast sachets (this has been out for months)
Tri coloured pasta
Pams soya oil
Lots of different baking mix packets
Red seal peppermint tea
Baking paper
Packets of handwipes

Also starting to look quite low are sachets of herbs and spices. Not just one or two things, about half of them in the pams brands. Still heaps of the more expensive ones though!

Our New World was pretty good last night, but again with the Thai curry pastes being out! How random is that? Plenty of cornflour, icing sugar, yeast and condensed milk though



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2020 05:19AM by Jenna.

I wonder if Thai pastes are being imported and therefore either can't be sourced?
The thing that really got me was lasagne pasta, could have gluten free (yech) or wholemeal (ok) but not just standard white lasagne pasta, we don't eat it often, but I've been teaching my boy Alison Holst's Lazy Lasagne recipe during lockdown and we've run out.

Yes, I was surprised to succeed in getting wholemeal lasagne delivered during Level 4 - I assumed I wouldn't have a hope of getting any. I guess it's not all that popular? I also was able to get baking paper delivered, although in the 15 metre pack rather than the larger one I ordered. I haven't noticed any shortages at Countdown since we left Level 4, however, but perhaps I'm just not looking for the things that are short.

Tomato paste has disappeared now. No known restock date.

Yeast has finally come back to Pak n Save but still no wholemeal flour. During level 4 I tried to find meths for an older friend but didn't have any luck. I still haven't seen any.

Hardly an essential item but I always use wheatgerm in my homemade muesli. Our NW have been out of stock for at least a month.
It is usually always available.

It could be something to do with our closed borders - stuff might be taking longer to arrive and then clear customs.

Very little of the Continental concentrate stock (in small containers). Also no pasta from Italy which used to be readily available. Thai curry pastes seemto be in short supply.