A serious grocery store chain has opted to limit the sale of a well-liked merchandise in freezers throughout the nation as a consequence of a troubling provide scarcity.
Coles has imposed a nationwide momentary buy restrict for frozen potato chips, proscribing clients to solely two objects, because the retailer battles potato provide points.
A Coles assertion mentioned: “Due to supply issues of frozen potato chips, we have introduced a temporary purchase limit of two items per transaction.
“This will help to maintain availability for all customers. Thank you for your patience, we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Clarkes Hill potato farmer Rod Guthrie mentioned consecutive moist summers had derailed provide of the greens, with farms yielding round half their typical crops in Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and Queensland.
“It all started back in January when we got the floods – it wiped a lot of potato crops out and the tonnage was heavily down for this year,” Mr Guthrie instructed 3AW Breakfast.
He turned emotional as he mentioned the availability shortages would finally have an effect on grocery store inventory of recent potatoes as effectively.
“It’s been an extremely hard year, the tonnages were down and it’s been a cold and wet winter too which doesn’t help,” he mentioned.
“Supply is not there, it’s not going to be on the shelves and at restaurants, and I’d say by January there will be no supply around hardly.
“The crops are down and we’re back to about half of the usual tonnage.”
Widespread potato shortages have been flagged in November as a consequence of persistent moist climate, with Woolworths Group chief government Brad Banducci writing to the grocery store’s clients to warn there might be restricted provide of the vacation favourites.
“As the La Nina rains continue on the eastern seaboard, we may see a delayed start to the season for some fresh fruit and vegetables, including cherries and stone fruits,” Mr Banducci wrote.
“The poor weather, especially in Tasmania, has also impacted supply of frozen vegetables (such as corn and potatoes) and potato crisps. In good news, mango season is upon us with more supply on the way.
“We’re working hard to make sure we have enough stock of everything, but please bear with us if you’re currently seeing some gaps.”
Woolworths doesn’t have any product limits in place at its supermarkets.
