The chips are down for our favourite snack

Chips may usually go with dips in New Zealand – but a dip in yield for the potato harvest has led to an apparent nationwide shortage of the popular snack.

A notice has appeared in some Pak’nSave supermarkets warning customers the store ‘‘will be having trouble stocking potato chips’’ due to a nationwide potato shortage.

The notice said the shortage was likely to last until the new year.

Double Denim marketing cofounder Angela Meyer was ‘‘shocked’’ when she saw the notice in Pak’nSave in Gisborne while on a bevvy and chips run.

She said the shortage could lead to a lot of very disappointed people over the Christmas and New Year period, but there were plenty of chips on the shelves at the moment.

‘‘There did seem to be quite a lot; it was very helpful that they had put the reduced cream there as well, so you could do a quick chip and dip mission.’’

Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association president Brent Wilcox said the wet winter has had a doublebarrelled effect on growers.

‘‘It’s been a long wet winter, so it has certainly taken its toll on the crops that have been in the ground but planting the new season’s crops has also been held up because it has been so wet,’’ Wilcox said.

‘‘I suggest that is going to mean the supply position is going to be quite lean for a few months yet.’’

Wilcox estimated the loss to growers to be in the millions.

‘‘I think different growers are in different positions and have been affected in different ways but I would suggest that there has been millions of dollars in crops lost over the last six months.’’

The weather had also taken its toll on growers’ morale, he said.

‘‘It puts the stress on financially but also just trying to get things done has been almost impossible.

‘‘There hasn’t been a lot of dry breaks where people can actually catch up. It has been quite demoralising in a lot of ways when you just can’t get out and do things, and when you do them, it’s not to the standard to get a good job done.’’

The country suffered through a similar shortage in 2014, which was blamed on bad weather affecting the crop.

Chips are a popular snack for Kiwis, with Potatoes New Zealand reporting New Zealanders spent $157 million on potato chips in 2015 – more than $30 per person.

When coupled with the $16m in exports, potato chips made onefifth of the revenue for New Zealand’s potato industry, worth $814m.

The supply position is going to be quite lean for a few months yet. Brent Wilcox, above