Shortage: what are the products at risk in 2023?

On November 22, 2022, Frédérique Schelcher, CEO of Système U, already confided his fears about potential future shortages on the set of franceinfo. The typical example he gives is then that of chickpeas: the brand was indeed forced to put an end to its own production of chickpeas because the increase requested was far too high. The result would have been to put these products on the shelves at a price at which they would certainly not sell, as reported by our colleagues from Version Femina.

The same could be true for a large number of other products, food or not. Mushrooms, in particular, would experience the same fate… Manufacturers are also putting an end to the production of certain products for similar reasons. Distributors are then simply informed in advance of the cessation of production, and must do what they can to try to find another supplier for this or that product.

Some trends are repeated across different industry sectors. The skyrocketing increase in the price of a raw material generates a shortage of products whose manufacture requires said raw material. Social movements also have their role to play: indeed, the strikes at TotalEnergies had contributed to the fuel shortages, just as the strikes at the Nordic paper mills do not help the paper shortage situation.

It’s a vicious circle: workers face an absolutely dizzying loss of purchasing power, and are therefore naturally more inclined to assert their rights. The context of omnipresent crisis also contributes to this: any company finds itself destabilized in an environment at risk, physical and financial.

Find below all the products that could be subject to shortages in 2023.