A series of winter storms and widespread power cuts that hit Texas and other states unaccustomed to such low temperatures are creating major challenges in the nation’s food supply chains.
Supermarket chains like Walmart and Publix were forced to close some stores for lack of energy or workers. And in places that remain open, customers complain about the long lines outside and then the empty shelves, filled with water, bread and milk, when they enter. The Texas supermarket chain, HEB, for example, has closed some stores and is limiting customers’ purchases of items like breast and propane tanks.
Power outages have caught many people unprepared, like Jon Reilly, who says he always keeps a month’s worth of canned food for the hurricanes. But on Wednesday, his daughter and wife waited 20 minutes in line outside a supermarket in Corpus Christi, Texas, just to go out with bread and water. They found no milk, cheese or meat. He is also low on propane, which he is using to connect the outdoor grill for cooking.
“We thought it was going to be cold,” said Reilly. “We didn’t expect to be without power for a week.”
Rodney Giles, 35, of Woodlands, Texas, went out to buy steak for his family to grill on Tuesday. But he ended up waiting in line for two hours outside his local HEB. When he entered, the only things available were tofu, oat milk and other things he didn’t want. But after experiencing several hurricanes and the pandemic, he hopes the store’s inventory will improve soon.
“Even during the pandemic here in March, the first day the shelves were empty, but the next day they were fully stocked,” said Giles.
Food retailers in Texas and other parts of the South are used to hurricanes that may force them to close for a few days. But this week’s massive winter storms are broader, wreaking havoc on roads and the entire transportation infrastructure. The coronavirus pandemic is only exacerbating the problem, as stores need to limit the number of customers.
Michael Zimmerman, a partner in strategic operations practice at global management consulting firm Kearney, predicts that it will take another two weeks for supermarket shelves in the affected areas to “look normal” again. He noted that supermarket chains operate very efficiently, keeping what they need in stock and relying on continuous delivery flows. But it can backfire in situations like snowstorms and power outages when it helps to have extra stock.
“Supermarkets just don’t have the space, even if they could store garlic for three years,” he said.
Meanwhile, food suppliers are having to reduce their operations or close farms and factories because of disruptions. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller issued a red alert earlier this week, noting that he is receiving calls from farmers and ranchers across the state reporting that interruptions in electricity and natural gas are having a “devastating effect on their operations ”.
In just one example, dairy operations are pouring $ 8 million into milk down the drain every day because the factories that process that milk have no energy, Miller quoted in his statement.
“We are looking at a food supply chain problem like we have never seen before, even with COVID-19,” he said.
Tyson Foods says it has temporarily reduced or suspended production at some facilities to save energy costs.
Sanderson Farms Inc., one of the largest chicken companies in the United States, estimated on Tuesday that up to 200 of its approximately 1,900 chicken coops in Texas have no energy. But the president and CEO of the Mississippi-based company, Joe F. Sanderson Jr., remained optimistic.
“This experience is similar to a hurricane,” he said. Sanderson, Jr., in a statement. “We have experience in managing catastrophic weather events and it will be no different.”
Supply problems have extended to food banks, hampering their ability to feed those most in need. Celia Cole, the CEO of the hunger-fighting organization Feeding Texas, said most of the 21 food banks the organization runs across the state have been closed due to weather, energy problems or an inability to work. But several are supplying food to heating stations in more urban areas of the state.
“I don’t think there is a single community that hasn’t been touched,” she said. “The biggest challenge we face in terms of being able to help people is to interrupt the supply chain.”
In the midst of chaos, however, there are some good points, such as Bruna Villalon, 24, who lives with her husband and three dogs in Austin, Texas. She went to Walmart on Monday to stock up on essentials when the electricity went out.
“The store manager had to ask each customer how much they thought the groceries were and, if we didn’t have money, we could just go out with the groceries,” said Villalon, who paid $ 20 in cash for about $ 35 in cash. groceries.
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D’Innocenzio and Anderson are based in New York. AP business writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Ann Arbor, Michigan, contributed to this report.