Consumer goods could be in short supply in an Omicron outbreak

Friday, 21 January 2022

Groceries, complex electronics, and furniture could be hard to find if an Omicron outbreak was to put pressure on domestic supply chains.

Brad Olsen, principal economist at Infometrics said going by the experience of other countries, Omicron could cause more supply chain disruption domestically than previous Covid-19 variants had.

“The supply chain issues caused by Omicron could really hamper New Zealand’s ability to move stuff around,” Olsen said.

Road transport operators and big supermarkets would have contingency plans in place for an outbreak, but consumers should expect to face delays for certain goods, he said.

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Brad Olsen, principal economist at Infometrics says the impact of an Omicron outbreak on consumer goods could be more than any outbreak so far.

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Don Braid, managing director of Mainfreight says the shipping and transport company is in a good position to handle a potential outbreak of the Omicron variant.

“Consumers should expect to see delays on deliveries into supermarkets, which will cause some hopefully short term bare shelves and fewer options at major business suppliers,” Olsen said.

The extent of the impact of an outbreak depends on which industries in the country it occurs, he said.

Supermarkets in New Plymouth are already feeling the effects of Omicron fears, as toilet paper runs low at some stores.

“If it starts to hit the ports sector than imports of goods such as electronics could be difficult to get in, if it hits trucking and road transport sector than moving domestic goods could be more challenging.”

Consumer goods to keep an eye on supply levels of would be medical supplies, foodstuffs, and retail goods such as electronics, hardware, furniture and home recreation, he said.

Don Braid, managing director of Mainfreight, said Omicron had not changed the way the company had prepared for an outbreak.

“We have now got access to rapid antigen testing which we will be using regularly, our vaccination rates are nearly 100 per cent, and we are running a booster programme as well,” Braid said.

The potential for staffing shortages caused by a more transmissible variant of Covid-19 was not a big concern for Braid, who said the company was confident it had enough people on deck to cope with an outbreak.

“We have managed to get our way through the last two outbreaks, and we are confident we will be able to get ourselves through another one.”

Countdown spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin said the supermarket was looking to Australia to any lessons to better handle an outbreak.

“We are working closely with our colleagues in Australia to understand the likely key pressure points Omicron will create in our supply chain and to ensure we have procedures in place to manage that,” she said.

Hannifin said Countdown staff had learned multiple lessons from the August lockdown and was well-prepared for another outbreak.

Thousands of staff were off work during the August outbreak and a number of actions were taken to manage the situation, she said.

Store opening hours were reduced, temporarily closed some stores and staff were redeployed to areas of greatest need, she said.

Other than international supply shortages, most Countdown stores were well supplied, she said.

Foodstuffs spokeswoman Emma Wooster said the company, which owns the Pak ‘n Save and New World supermarket brands had the benefit of learning how the variant affected supply chains overseas.

“As you’d expect, we’ve recently reviewed our plans and operating procedures with the arrival of Omicron in mind. While we have reactive plans ready to go, we continue our vigilance with all the existing protocols we already have in our Covid-19 protection toolbox,” she said.

Wooster said during the August lockdown all Pak ‘n Save, New World, and Four Square stores were able to remain open, which gave her confidence Foodstuffs would be able to handle an Omicron outbreak.

Sunny Kaushal, chairman of the dairy and business owners group said dairies wold find it even harder to find supply than the supermarkets.

“After the supermarkets get their fill, and they have a monopoly on supply, it will be hard for dairies and other small retailers to get their supplies. Packaged food, toilet paper, oils all of these things we are selling, and they will need to be imported. It will be difficult,” he said.

Kaushal said a number of dairy owners were concerned about the impact of Omicron of their business.

“We have seen how much of an issue this is causing in Australia, and we can expect potentially bigger disruption in New Zealand because we are more isolated. We need to gear up now,” Kaushal said.