What products to be in short supply in coming months: List of "problematic" goods

Author

Lesia Solovchuk

The full-scale invasion of Russia entailed the destruction of food production and logistics supply chains, resulting in some products partially or completely disappearing from the shelves of Ukrainian supermarkets.

In particular, the war completely stopped the work of the largest salt producer in Ukraine — the state enterprise Artemsil. To calm the panic among the population and prevent mass buying of salt in large quantities, Ukrainian retailers were actively looking for a substitution with imports.

has found out what other products disappeared from supermarket shelves over the war and when they will be available again for Ukrainian buyers.

"Problematic" goods

As the Association of Retailers notes, chains now have two lists of scarce goods: non-critical domestic goods that may disappear, as well as goods that require import substitution.

"Some retailers need volumes of products contracted to meet demand in full. This applies to products such as salt, soda, rice, tea, coffee, tomato paste, bulgur and others," as noted in a comment to .

List of problematic non-critical goods:

1) beer — SUN InBev (Anheuser-Busch InBev Ukraine) cannot yet resume production on the territory of Ukraine because its factories are located in Chernihiv and Kharkiv and cannot import products because it is not included in the list of critical imports;

2) Sandora and Sadochok juices also cannot resume production because of their location in Mykolaiv. However, the assortment includes juices from Ukrainian producers Galicia and Ecosphere, as well as juices foreign production by Hortex;

3) household chemicals — TM Gala temporarily ceased production in Ukraine, but in the near future it will appear on the shelves. Production was moved to Poland;

4) Colgate toothpastes temporarily disappeared from the shelves because they are imported with a large distance of dispatch;

5) Barny biscuits — because of the partial destruction of the Mondelēz confectionery factory in Trostianets, a temporary shortage is expected. Negotiations are underway to import this product;

6) Kinder chocolates — part of Ferrero's assortment is in short supply, but the product is not included in the list of critical imports, so deliveries to Ukraine have been temporarily stopped. As soon as the situation with the possibility of imports improves, the goods will appear on the shelves.

However, these TMs are not critical ones, they have analogues, so their shortage does not significantly impact the sales economy.

Southern deficit: Chumak sauces and Melitopol sweet cherry

Auchan chain told about problems with tomato sauces and pasta.

In particular, the chain was informed by the Chumak company that they would not be able to supply the goods.

"Therefore, we import tomato paste. But we have already sold almost the entire batch. Now it is very difficult to find this product even abroad. In Ukraine, the situation is even worse. Most of the raw materials were supplied from the Kherson region. Therefore, now we are making every effort to find imports," the chain notes.

As for sweet cherries, this year the chain does not buy Melitopol sweet cherries, however, there is no offer on the market on it. At present, there is no shortage of cherries in Auchan from Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia, and Kyiv Oblasts, the chain assures.

Import substitution

The chains will try to replace the potential shortage of seasonal vegetables and fruits with imports, the Association of Retailers stresses. In particular, these are:

— gourds (pumpkins and melons), so the price for them will increase significantly;

— field tomato — will be replaced by greenhouse and imported tomato, also with a slight increase in price;

— fruits (plums and peaches) — will be partially replaced by imports.

"If the military situation does not worsen, the deficit can be avoided. But some of the goods that are fully or partially imported may "disappear" from the shelves of some stores for several days, which is due to long logistics and queues at customs," the Association of Retailers of Ukraine explains.

Purchasing goods from the occupied regions is currently impossible and not carried out, the retailers stress.