This is the anxiety for many consumers who go to the supermarket to fill up the fridge. Food prices increased by 12.6% in 2022, more than double the level of general inflation recorded last year (5.9%). Another difficulty: some of these products are simply impossible to find! So it’s still too early to talk about shortages, but these stockouts are increasing and the situation should not improve any time soon. The NielsenIQ firm taken over by BFM TV indicates that these ruptures had increased by 5.5% at the end of last year compared to the end of 2021.
Harder-to-find food items
This represents an increase of 1.4 points year-on-year. And depending on the products, the shortages are more or less important: this is the case for example of flavored and sparkling waters, the shortages of which have exploded by 10 points over the year. The supply of eggs also shows greater breaks (+9.7 points), animal feed products also (+6.8 points), this is also the case for fresh cream (+5.4 points). The firm estimates that the shortfall represents 4.8 billion euros per year.
Stock-outs that will multiply
For several of these products, shortages will continue: this will be the case for eggs and poultry. Farms have been hard hit by avian flu, and it takes nearly a year to relaunch a farm. Potato production fell last year due to drought, and it is to be feared that similar episodes will be repeated. The supply of rice, which comes mainly from India and Pakistan, has also suffered from the vagaries of the weather. All sectors are also subject to the same logistics and recruitment issues.