Tampons, hot sauce among missing items

In recent months, a handful of common products have become harder to find, and more may be added to the list.

FOX Business takes a look at the crisis consumers are facing.

Tampons

A spokesman for Tampax, owned by P&G, told FOX Business in a statement that this is “a temporary situation, and the Tampax team produces tampons 24/7 to meet the growing demand for our products.”

The company says it is working with retail partners to maximize availability, which it says “has increased significantly over the past few months.”

However, social media users have noticed it.

“Is there a shortage of tampons or something? I just went to five different Walgreens and the shelves have been cleared, said a Twitter user.

Walgreens told FOX Business that they are working with their suppliers to ensure that the stores have supplies available.

“However, like other retailers, we are experiencing some temporary brand-specific tampon deficiencies in certain geographies,” the company said. “Although we will continue to have products on the shelf and online, it may only be in specific brands while navigating the supply disruption.”

CVS also told FOX Business that there have been “cases where suppliers have not been able to fulfill all orders” in recent weeks, but that the company is working with “suppliers to ensure that we have an abundant supply of tampons in our stores . ”

The company added that if a store is temporarily empty of specific products, it will “work to replenish those items as quickly as possible.”

Baby formula

Parents do not get much of a break as the sold-out rate for breast milk substitutes rose to 73% on a national basis for the week ending May 29, according to the latest data from the computer company Datasembly. This is a significant increase from earlier this month, when the national sold-out rate for infant formula was 45%.

Retailers have been forced to set purchase limits on the products as the shelves remain bare.

Abbott Nutrition’s plant in Sturgis, Michigan, which exacerbated the shortage of the entire industry, resumed production on June 4. However, baby replacement products from the facility will not return to store shelves until at least mid-July, according to the company’s production timeline.

In May, President Joe Biden called for the Defense Production Act to speed up the production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supplies from abroad to help parents in desperate need.

Warm sauce

In April, Huy Fong Foods, Inc., the country’s leading producer of sriracha sauce, sent a letter to customers about an impending shortage, which would directly affect retailers and restaurants.

“Unfortunately, we can confirm that there is a unique shortage of our products,” Huy Fong Foods told Fox News Digital in an email.

“We are still trying to solve this problem that has [been] caused by several spiral events, including unexpected crop failure from the spring chili harvest, “the e-mail continued. “We hope for a fruitful autumn season and thank our customers for their patience and continued support during this difficult time.”

According to Huy Fong Foods, the problems began in July 2020, when the company began to experience a shortage of chili pepper stocks. The shortage worsened in recent months after bad weather conditions negatively affected the chili crops this year.

Wine bottles

According to Eat This, Not That, there is still a shortage of glass bottles.

The supply chain company Resilinc told FOX Business that “the cost of glass bottles has increased by as much as 20%, mainly driven by a shortage of raw materials needed to produce the glass.”

Due to “commodity constraints, logistics problems and inflation, wineries may be forced to pass on costs to consumers,” the company added.

However, it will depend on the size of the operation.

“Larger winery operations with deeper pockets and longer delivery times on orders do not feel as much of an impact,” the company said. “Smaller wineries with less purchasing power may be affected differently. Although they do not necessarily want to pass on 100% of the costs to consumers, they will probably have to raise prices while taking a larger share of the profits.”

“Three years ago it was our cans for beer and wine, now it’s the actual bottles,” Moersch Hospitality Group CEO Matthew Moersch told WSBT 22.

Drinks

According to Boxed boss Chieh Huang, there could be more problems on the horizon.

“This summer, I think beverages, you will start to see a kind of increased prices or shortages just because… already these factories are pumping it out at full capacity. You are adding to this summer’s increased demand, we do not know where it is going to go,” he said. Huang “Varney & Co.” earlier this month.

FOX Business’ Cortney Moore and Associated Press contributed to this report.