Supermarkets are set to introduce new rationing after tinned tomato suppliers revealed they were running low on the item.
Now, Italy is also facing a shortage of tins which has made the situation worse.
The tin shortage is a consequence of China buying up global steel supplies as part of its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tomato suppliers in Italy began rationing supermarkets in April last year when shoppers started panic-buying during the first lockdown.
Due to the current shortage, companies such as Conserve Italia are also advising supermarkets to remove promotions in order to reduce shoppers’ demand.
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Director at Conserve Italia, Diego Pariotti, said: “We are basically out of stock on every single line because for the last three years we didn’t have enough to satisfy demand.”
Currently, Italy supplies more than three quarters of the UK’s tomatoes.
As a consequence, Britons may not be able to get their hands on tinned tomatoes this summer.
These shortages have also led to an increase of 20 percent on prices.
“Unfortunately, if you want a proper Italian product from a company that is respecting the rules, you need to pay for it. You cannot always use it as an attraction to get your customers into the stores,” he said.
Natasha Linhart, chief executive officer of Atlante, which supplies Italian fine-food retailers in several markets including the US, UK, India, Japan, and Canada, commented on the shortage.
She said: “We cannot find cans. Big multinationals are defaulting on their contracts and the price of cans has increased by more than three times.
“We don’t know how long this shortage will last, there is no end of the tunnel in sight.”
