Woolies issues shortage warning
SUPERMARKET giant Woolworths has warned there could be a supply squeeze for some frozen foods and potato crisps this summer.
Woolworths Group chief executive Brad Banducci said wet weather had been a major problem.
“The big issue right now … is in frozen vegetables,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“In particular, corn and potatoes, with the very poor growing season that we’ve had in Tasmania.
“So that is causing some challenges in the frozen category and some risk of under supply in some stores.
“That has also flowed through … I don’t want to overplay anything at this stage, in potato crisps … (but) there are some supply issues on the way through there, so that’s the big one.
“There has been a delay to the cherry season (too).”
Woolworths Group’s revenue has hit $16.36bn, with total group sales up 1.8 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year compared to a year ago.
“In our food businesses, sales were below the prior year, as we cycled strong growth driven by Covid-related restrictions in F21 and F22,” Mr Banducci said in a statement.
“Australian food sales decreased by 0.5 per cent and New Zealand food sales were down 2.5 per cent compared to the prior year.
“On a three-year compound annual growth basis, sales in Australian food were up 5.3 per cent and up 4.7 per cent in New Zealand food.”
Mr Banducci also noted inflation continued to accelerate, with average prices for Australian foods increasing 7.3 per cent.
“We continue to see early signs of customer purchasing habits changing, but it remains unclear how much of this relates to cost of living pressures compared to Covid normalisation,” he said.