As the prices of many foods – from dry goods to frozen seafood – continue to rise, U.S. supermarkets are stockpiling inventories.
Some grocers told The Wall Street Journal they are buying and storing supplies to keep their shelves full amid stronger demand; in turn, causing shortages of some staples.
Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.A.-based Associated Wholesale Grocers recently purchased 15 to 20 percent more inventory – primarily packaged foods with a longer shelf-life, the wholesaler’s CEO, David Smith, told The Wall Street Journal.
“We’re buying a lot of everything. Our inventories are up significantly over the same period last year,” he said.
Shoppers themselves are also planning to stockpile groceries, according to a new survey. Nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults said they’re considering replenishing a current stockpile of groceries and other essential products as transmission of the Delta variant of COVID-19 increases, according to Supermarket News. Forty-six percent of consumers have created a product stockpile in response to COVID-19 and another 12 percent said they will now start to stock up because of the Delta variant.
Seafood buyers are also concerned about rising seafood prices. The foodservice recovery has created a surge in orders from restaurants on top of the increased orders from retail, leading to tight supply and increased prices, Santa Monica Seafood President and CEO Roger O’Brien told SeafoodSource.
Frozen seafood prices experienced the biggest gain in the second quarter of this year – up 9.2 percent versus the same quarter in 2019 to USD 6.96 (EUR 5.93) per pound on average in U.S. grocery stores and mass retailers, according to IRI and 210 Analytics.
Frozen seafood products saw the biggest price hike from the first quarter to the second quarter of this year, jumping 5.6 percent, while shelf-stable seafood prices rose 3.3 percent and fresh prices were up 2 percent, the research firms found. Fresh seafood prices also soared 8 percent in the second quarter of 2021 versus 2019 and 4.1 percent versus the same quarter in 2020 to reach USD 8.40 (EUR 7.14) per pound on average.
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