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No, you're not imagining it. Some grocery store shelves are bare
again, conjuring bad memories of spring 2020 for many.

Social media is rife with images of empty supermarket aisles and
signs explaining the lack of available food and other items. Stores
such as Aldi have apologized to customers for the shortages.

The reasons for the dwindling stock are numerous, according to food
industry analysts, and include some issues that impacted retailers
at the beginning of the pandemic as well as challenges that have
cropped up more recently.

"We're really seeing the perfect storm," Phil Lempert, editor of the
website SupermarketGuru.com, told NPR.

Lempert said the Northeast is facing some of the worst shortages
now, due in part to recent winter storms that snarled transportation
routes, but that could change with the weather.

But Nate Rose, the communications director for the California
Grocers Association, said any comparison to March 2020 is not quite
right.

"There are some issues with out-of-stocks, but it tends to be a
situation where if you go to a store on a Tuesday night, maybe
something's out of stock, but by Wednesday sometime it's back in
store," Rose told NPR.

"Everyone's become really reliant on kind of that just-in-time
supply chain," he added, "and I think what we're seeing is things
are just behind a little bit right now."

Some conservatives have begun using the hashtag #BareShelvesBiden to
blame the current administration for the shortages, even though
grocery stores experienced serious supply problems under President
Donald Trump, too.

Here are some of the reasons driving the current supply shortages at
your local supermarket:

The omicron variant
The highly contagious new COVID-19 variant that's causing record
infections in the U.S. is undoubtedly one of the biggest stressors
on the food industry right now.

Grocery store workers are catching the virus in higher numbers and
calling out sick, making it tougher for markets to keep shelves
stocked. The stores themselves are finding it harder to source
products because of the new strain.

Vivek Sankaran, CEO of the grocery store chain Albertson's, said in
an earnings call that the company had been hoping to recover from
recent supply issues but omicron "put a dent in that."

"There are more supply challenges, and we would expect more supply
challenges over the next four to six weeks," Sankaran said on
Tuesday.

It's more than grocery stores, though. There are workers all across
the food industry supply chain who are getting sick and staying
home, impacting food production, manufacturing, shipping and
distribution.

The food company Conagra, the parent company of brands such as
Duncan Hines and Healthy Choice, is just one seeing a rise in
"omicron-driven absenteeism," President and CEO Sean Connolly said
in an earnings call last week.

"It's entirely reasonable for all of us to project that the next
month or so could remain strained within the supply chain as Omicron
runs its course," Connolly said.

Labor shortages
In addition to workers becoming infected with COVID-19, there are
those who have simply quit.

Lempert said the pandemic has turned grocery stores into
"battlefields," with employees required to work in person throughout
the pandemic, explain food shortages and new public health measures
to customers, and try to keep themselves safe and healthy in the
process.

"As a result of that, a lot of people said, 'Hey, I don't need
this,' and they've left their jobs in the supermarket," Lempert
said.

A recent survey conducted by the National Grocers Association found
that many of its member retail and wholesale grocers reported
operating their stores with 50% of their normal workforce.

Supermarkets are beginning to offer higher pay, better benefits and
even tighter security to attract new applicants, Lempert said.

Trucking and shipping
Truckers are also in short supply, though there's some dispute about
how bad the situation really is.

Trucking companies are offering higher wages to attract workers, but
employment levels still aren't high enough to meet the demand for
ground transport.

In December, the White House announced a plan to bolster the
trucking industry, including making it easier for drivers to get
commercial driver's license, or CDLs.

Severe weather and climate change
Climate change isn't a new problem, but it's one that's still vexing
the food industry. Severe weather events are becoming more frequent
and intense across the world as the planet warms.

According to Lempert, growers are yielding less corn and soy to feed
farm animals, which is having a downstream impact on the price and
availability of meat, eggs and dairy products.

In Brazil, heavy rains are inundating coffee fields and other crops,
which is limiting production.

Severe weather is also making it harder to move food around.

Recent storms in Washington state prompted the closure of major
roads and slowed the shipping of food to Alaska, where supermarkets
told customers the one-two punch of severe weather and shipping
delays were to blame for barren shelves.

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1072462477/grocery-shortage-shelves-
reasons

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