Tinned tomato suppliers have begun rationing retailers as stocks run low following unprecedented demand.
Supermarkets placed customer limits on tinned tomatoes as they flew off the shelves following the coronavirus outbreak.
Now suppliers are following suit with Italian stocks increasingly tight and many at risk of running out.
“We’re trying to ration things so that as many customers as possible get some stock even if it’s not what they’ve ordered,” said the director at one leading supplier.
“Larger customers get more stock and smaller customers get less. It’s the most logical way we can do it based on what customers usually take.”
Many supermarkets shelves remain devoid of tinned tomatoes, with 40 SKUs out of stock across the big four and Waitrose, according to Edge by Ascential data. Big brands such as Cirio and KTC are among those hit.
“We are capable of supporting the standard demand. We are not capable of supporting the crazy demand,” said Diego Parlotti, export commercial & marketing director at Cirio’s owner Conserve Italia.
Despite the purchasing limits, it will be difficult for importers to find alternative sources. Italy is by far the world’s biggest exporter of tinned tomatoes, shipping 10 times more than Spain in 2019, and it supplies more than three quarters of the UK’s total stock each year, according to official customs data.
Many are therefore holding out for the end of the Italian harvest in August, when replenished stocks can start to be shipped.
They hope the season will be more fruitful than previous years, which have contributed to the current strains on the market.
“We started 2020 with already low stocks from two seasons of lower production than expected,” said Cristina Nanni, specialist reporter at IHS Markit.
The coronavirus outbreak therefore accentuated an existing shortfall, with some smaller producers now warning they could run out of certain product lines by June, said Nanni.
Escalating logistics costs and difficulties transporting goods through Europe have already strained the resupply of Italian foods in the UK. Many goods have been forced to travel by shipping container rather than lorry, slowing the transit time from three days to a week.
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