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ARCHIVED - Panic buying and smaller deliveries leave Spanish supermarket shelves bare
Stores in Spain are reportedly running out of milk, oil and even pasta as a result of the transport strike
The onset of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago was marked by a mad rush to stock up on essential items, and photos and videos of trolleys full of toilet paper quickly went viral. This mass hysteria soon quietened down, but supermarkets across Spain are this week reporting similar scenes, with shelves in stores in the capital empty of many staple products, most notably, milk.
The transport strike is approaching the two-week mark and truckers on Thursday March 24 refused yet another deal offered by the government to ease the burden of rising fuel costs. Although delegates have at last agreed to meet with the organisers of the strike in a desperate attempt to get delivery trucks back on the road, it’s widely expected that supermarkets will be stripped bare this weekend.
In a Día supermarket in central Madrid, the manager claims that supply problems were evident just three days after the transport strike began, and as shipments have become less and less numerous as the days drag on, there is a scarcity of milk, sunflower oil, rice, bread and sugar.
The concerns were echoed by staff in a nearby Supercor, who reported that the supermarket had only received half the usual milk delivery and the cartons were swiped by panicked customers as soon as they hit the shelves.
“Today I brought a pallet of milk in the morning and in the afternoon there was none. I have never seen anything like it,” one store manager commented.
Despite the fact that Lidl has been forced to close several stores in Spain this week due to shortages, and other major players like Danone have had to reduce production due to a lack of raw materials, the Spanish government has claimed that the reported supply crisis is “a hoax”.
In any case, FIAB, Spain’s food and beverage representative, has appealed to people not to exacerbate the problems the transport strike has caused in the food chain by filling their trolleys unnecessarily this weekend.
“People are nervous about the possibility of shortages. The problem is very complicated, but the sector is responsible. It has shown it throughout the pandemic and it will try by all means to supply whenever it can,” a spokesperson said.
Image: Archive
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