Hot chips are in short supply

Australia is facing a Christmas without our favourite carbs.

Australia is facing a Christmas without our favourite carbs.

Australia is facing a national shortage of chips and other frozen potato products ahead of anticipated soaring demand over the summer period. 

Heavy rains in Tasmania, which produces the bulk of the nation’s frozen potato products, last month delayed planting potato seeds, leaving a dearth of spuds for fries, potato gems and potato cakes. 

Businesses say the price of potato products has skyrocketed and they are struggling to find the highly popular food item ahead of a much needed boom in trade after two summers disrupted by Covid. 

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Agronomist Stuart Millwood said the wet spring had made it impossible to cultivate the ground while production costs such as fertiliser and power had soared and a shortage of backpackers meant labour was scarce. 

“They’re the three main reasons but at the moment we’re really struggling with the weather,” he said. 

“It’s been really wet, it’s cold, we’ve had floods, a lot of our potato paddocks only three weeks ago were under water.” 

Farms on mainland Australia are still producing potatoes but Tasmania’s strict biosecurity laws prohibit the importation of fresh potato products into the ecologically fragile state to prevent the introduction of disease and pests.

Haymarket Seafood and Fish & Chips employee Amanni Zreika, 20, said the family owned business had been forced to raise menu prices after their weekly chip bill increased by $200. 

“The price of chips has gone up tremendously and our usual brand of chips has been out of stock for about four months now so we‘ve had to completely shift to a different brand and type of chips,” Zreika said.

“Our customers have definitely noticed, most of them understand why we‘ve had to change it but we’ve also lost a few customers because they used to love the chips we used to have.”

Fat Fish chief cook John Notaras said the price of chips had gone up by about 35% and unlike major franchises or supermarkets his local store didn’t have a fixed contract guaranteeing supply. 

“Fat Fish is one of the more popular fish and chips shop around here so in the summer months we go from around 90 boxes of chips per week to needing around 120 boxes,” he said.

“But with the shortage of supply and the increase in price … all of that profit from chips alone is gone.”

Australia’s two main manufacturers of frozen potato products Simplot, which owns Birds Eye and Edgell, and McCain Foods confirmed the shortage. 

“We are expecting demand to remain high in light of this situation and anticipate there could be some ongoing shortages due to impacts on crop availability,” said a Simplot spokesperson. 

“We are working closely with our Tasmanian potato growers to support them with the current season planting and harvesting and continue to work closely with our retail and foodservice customers to best manage any product availability issues.” 

A McCain spokesperson said the planting season had been challenging but the food manufacturer sourced potatoes across a wide supply network that offset the delayed harvest in Tasmania. 

“The current outlook for our exclusive potato variety grown in Tasmania indicates good potential for a positive crop result next year, in spite of the current challenging season,” said the spokesperson. 

Tasmania produced 44% of the 975,000 tonnes of potatoes processed into frozen products and crisps 2021, according to the Potato Processors Association of Australia. 

Coles and Woolworths confirmed the shortages while a Craveable Brands spokeswoman, which owns Red Rooster, Oporto and the WA based Chicken Treat, said food provider supply chains were under intense pressure.