It could still take several days before all empty shop shelves in supermarkets are replenished. Supermarket chains Colruyt, Delhaize and Aldi hope to clear the backlog caused by the farmers' protests by the middle of this week. Behind the scenes, problems may persist for longer. Colruyt Group expects it could take another 2 to 3 weeks before shop stocks are fully replenished.
People who went shopping this morning may have noticed it. Though farmers have now lifted all blockades at distribution centres, a lot of shop shelves are still empty. Supplies are coming back on track, but tackling the backlogs may take some time.
"The actions have had a big impact on supplies, but we hope to have normal stocks back in all shops as soon as possible," says Aldi. At Aldi it could take another 1-2 days before normal quantities are back in stock.
Same story at Delhaize. "By Wednesday we hope that the whole range will be back to normal again," says spokesman Roel Dekelver. The biggest backlog seems to be in the fresh food department. A lot of fruit and vegetable shelves in several Colruyt shops also remain empty. There are obvious shortages in the snacks and drinks racks too.
Behind-the-scenes problems possibly for weeks to come
Refilling the racks turns out not to be that easy. Hanne Poppe is spokeswoman at Colruyt: "It’s especially fresh products have a fast rotation time. They also need to be replenished quickly."
"If there is a backlog here, it is difficult to clear it. It takes a lot of time. Throughout the weekend, as many extra deliveries as possible were made. Staff too put their best foot forward. Still, it will take 2 weeks for the stocks in Colruyt shops to be fully replenished."
Supermarket chain Albert Heijn, which has no distribution centres in Belgium, does not expect any further problems today. Due to the traffic problems caused by the farmers' protests, it was difficult to bring in supplies, but by now everything at the chain is once again under control.
Spar and Okay shops, which are also part of the Colruyt group, were much less affected by the supply problems. That’s also because they are supplied through a different distribution network.