Rewe explains to customers why the products, like the coffee here, cannot be offered at the moment Photo: Ufuk Ucta
By Luisa Hemmerich
Everything empty, no more Snickers … For weeks, customers have been standing in front of empty shelves again and again
One of the main reasons: the cost increases of the global food company Mars. Many supermarkets do not want to give in to these price demands.
That’s why Mars has temporarily suspended its deliveries to the German supermarket chains Edeka and Rewe and their discounter subsidiaries Penny and Netto.
The chewing gum shelf at Edeka on the corner of Uhlandstrasse and Düsseldorfer Strasse in Charlottenburg is also empty Photo: Inga Grömminger
BZ reporters went shopping in different districts and documented the food shortages. Hard-to-get items now include candy bars (Bounty, Snickers), chewing gum (Airwaves), pet food (Chappi, Whiskas), pasta (Miracoli), rice dishes (Ben’s Original), and ice cream. On site, alternatives such as private labels and other branded products are pointed out.
According to the supermarkets, they refuse to pass on higher prices to customers that are not justified by higher costs for energy and raw materials.
Mars, on the other hand, announced that rising costs would be absorbed internally as much as possible. However, a certain amount of price adjustment is necessary.
In the Rewe market on Pankow’s Wollankstraße, the group’s pet food is already mostly sold out Photo: Ufuk Ucta