Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

SUPERMARKETS

Hamsterkauf: Toilet paper disappears from German supermarket shelves as panic-buying returns

As coronavirus cases in Germany have started to climb again, so too has the demand for toilet paper: concerns about new restrictions have led to increased demand for certain goods across the country.

Published: 15 October 2020 16:33 CEST
Hamsterkauf: Toilet paper disappears from German supermarket shelves as panic-buying returns
Rising coronavirus cases have led to an increased demand for toilet paper in German supermarkets. Photo: DPA

When the coronavirus pandemic spread across Europe earlier this year, toilet paper went from being a normal household item to a prized commodity overnight. 

As panicked customers rushed to stock up for the imminent lockdown, limits had to be introduced to ration supply and empty shelves were seen in supermarkets across the country. 

Estimates by market researchers Iri suggest that the sales of toilet paper in the second week of March more than doubled compared to the same week in 2019.

Uncertainty grows along with cases

By the time summer came around and restrictions were loosened, demand eventually stabilised. 

But now that infection rates in Germany are on the rise once more, it seems that fears of a second lockdown are driving customers back to the hygiene aisle for another Hamsterkauf (panic buying). 

READ ALSO: Germany reports 6,638 new coronavirus cases – highest since start of pandemic

“At the moment we are noticing another slight increase in demand for certain products such as toilet paper in our stores”, a spokesman for discount Aldi Süd told German magazine WirtschaftsWoche. 

Lidl too confirmed it was experiencing an increase in demand, but chains such as Rewe, dm and Kaufland have not yet noticed a change.

Many Germans have taken to Twitter to either complain or make fun of the shortages, with one joking about finding a ‘Hamster Kauf Starter Pack’ in his local supermarket, or several rolls of toilet paper and flour:

An Edeka store in the southern town of Esslinger has even taken to TikTok to ask customers to shop responsibly: 

Lessons learned

Despite reports of empty shelves, however, the two discount retailers stressed that panic-buying was by no means necessary.

“After the events we saw earlier this year, we are monitoring changes in demand more closely than ever to ensure that nothing is in short supply”, said the spokesperson for Aldi Süd. 

Lidl also confirmed that it was “well prepared”, adding that it was in a position to “react quickly to provide stores with sufficient supplies” if demand should increase. 

 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

COVID-19

Is the pandemic over in Germany?

As much of Germany lifts - or prepares to lift - the last remaining Covid-19 measures, intensive care units say Covid-19 admissions are no longer straining the system.

Published: 24 January 2023 09:00 CET
Is the pandemic over in Germany?

Despite a difficult winter of respiratory illnesses, intensive care units in Germany say Covid-19 admissions have almost halved. The number of cases having to be treated in the ICU has gone down to 800 from 1,500 at the beginning of this month.

“Corona is no longer a problem in intensive care units,” Gernot Marx, Vice President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, told the German Editorial Network. “A the moment, we don’t have to think every day about how to still ensure the care of patients, but how to actually run a service that can help.”

Marx said the drop has allowed them to catch up on many postponed surgeries.

The number of sick employees in hospitals is also falling, helping to relieve the pressure on personnel.

The easing pressure on hospitals correlates with the assessment of prominent virologist and head of the Virology department at Berlin’s Charite – Christian Drosten – who said in December that the pandemic was close to ending, with the winter wave being an endemic one.

German federal and state governments are now in the midst of lifting the last of the country’s pandemic-related restrictions. Free Covid-19 antigen tests for most people, with exceptions for medical personnel, recently ended.

READ ALSO: Free Covid-19 tests end in Germany

Six federal states – Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hessen, Thuringia, Lower Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein – have ended mandatory isolation periods for people who test positive for Covid-19.

Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein have ended the requirement to wear FFP2 masks on public transport, while Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia, and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania will follow suit on February 2nd.

At that time, the federal government will also drop its requirement for masks to be worn on long-distance trains. Labour Minister Hubertus Heil says that’s when he also intends to exempt workplaces – apart from medical locations – from a mask requirement.

READ ALSO: Germany to drop mask mandate in trains and buses from February 2nd

Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg will also end the requirement for patients to wear a mask in doctor’s offices. That’s a requirement that, so far, will stay in place everywhere else. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has also said that he thinks this requirement should remain. 

But some public health insurers and general practitioners are calling for a nationwide end to the obligation for wearing masks in doctor’s offices.

“The pandemic situation is over,” National Association of Statutory Health Physicians (KBV) Chair Andreas Gassen told the RND network. “High-risk patients aren’t treated in all practices. It should generally be left up to medical colleagues to decide whether they want to require masks in their practices.”

SHOW COMMENTS