Global supply issues and shipping delays hit the family cat’s dinner plate

A global cat and dog food shortage is now being felt by local shoppers.

Countdown spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin confirmed the retail chain was experiencing cat food shortages, with Mars-owned Whiskas particularly impacted.

“The issue is both supply and shipping delays,” Hannifin said.

“There should be plenty of other cat food from the other major suppliers. We are hoping for more consistent supply next month.”

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Foodstuffs has also been approached for comment.

Whiskas NZ confirmed a nationwide shortage on its pouch varieties of cat food, in a statement on its website.

“We’re working really hard to get our usual stock levels back on shelf as soon as we can. In the meantime, we’re sorry for any inconvenience this might cause you – and your fur babies!”

Previously manufactured in New Zealand, Mars closed its Whanganui pet food factory at the end of 2020, and moved production of its Whiskas cat food pouches to Thailand.

In February and March, a number of international news publications reported on a global shortage of pet foods, particularly wet foods – the meat based products that come in cans and pouches.

According to articles in the Guardian, Yahoo News and the BBC, the rising ownership of pets during the global pandemic and customer stockpiling has led to a run on pet food and resulted in warnings of supply shortages that were likely to last all year.

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, in the United Kingdom, apologised to customers after running out of dog and cat food pouches due to a “national shortage”.

The shortage in pet food follows issues with other product lines, including basic medicines like paracetamol.

International supply chains have struggled due to reduced manufacturing, limited freight movement and higher demand for some products.

In December, University of Auckland Centre for Supply Chain Management director Tava Olsen said supply chains were supposed to flow smoothly like water, but the whole chain had become ‘lumpy’ which caused greater consequences further down the network.

Much of this “lumpiness” has been caused by a ramping up of manufacturing supply in China. With China’s factories coming online they’ve been fulfilling a backlog of orders at a time when ports were planning for a downturn in container loads.

This caused a wave of delays as ports and freight carriers struggled to cope with an unpredicted level of demand.

Those led to more delays as businesses started packing as many goods as they could onto ships and planes to guard against being unable to secure freight spaces in future.

Shoppers have been warned that supply chain issues could cause an increase in prices on some goods.