5 Items Currently Facing Shortages – Forbes Advisor

The supply chain continues to struggle to meet demand.

The peak of the Covid-19 pandemic is several months past but the kinks in the supply chain have yet to unfurl. Many industries face a mismatch of production capabilities and demand; rampant inflation isn’t helping, either.

As a result, consumers are running into shortages of products from paper to medication—and these shortages can have a deleterious effect on everyday life.

And though some experts are hopeful the supply chain could reach more “normal” levels next year, others are cautioning against being too optimistic.

5 Items Currently Facing a Shortage

1. Paper

One of the most basic products is now experiencing a shortage.

When the Covid pandemic hit, life was forced indoors—and online. Demand for paper tanked, as did U.S. production of it in response. Many paper mills pivoted during the pandemic to produce packaging and cardboard to keep up with newfound dependence on online shopping, resulting in a nearly 20% reduction in production capacity from 2019, according to commentary by ERA Forest Products Research in the Seattle Times.

But once lockdowns eased, demand for paper products spiked—and mills have struggled to get back to pre-pandemic production levels. Many of the mills that transitioned to packaging cannot easily revert back to paper production.

Throwing fuel on the fire is rising inflation, which makes it more expensive to make paper. Raw material costs to produce paper have risen dramatically, pushing the price of paper up as much as 60%, according to Business Insider.

How to cope: If you’re a business owner looking for a specific type of paper for marketing materials or inventory, ask your local printing company or paper supplier what other options are available. If you buy paper occasionally to fill your printer at home, you may notice a spike in price. Consider switching to a cheaper brand, if available. If you’re someone who buys paper online, keep in mind that many e-commerce brands use real-time dynamic pricing, resulting in a constant shift of prices. Use price-tracking apps, like CamelCamelCamel or Shopify, to determine if you’re clicking the purchase button during a price peak.

2. Diesel

The U.S. inventories of diesel and gasoline are presently suffering from tight supply, according to CBS News. Numerous factors contribute to the supply strain, including the war in Ukraine, refinery shutdowns, natural disasters and an explosion at a Philadelphia refinery.

You may have heard that the U.S. only has 25 days worth of diesel left. But that doesn’t mean the country is about to completely run out; analysts point out that’s far from the case. This alarmist number is only likely if every oil refinery in the country were to shut down at once, which analysts say is out of the question.

How to cope: The best way to manage the current diesel shortage is to resist panic-buying; collectively, panic buying could further exhaust a waning supply. The shortage could subside once demand cools off, but exactly when that could be is hard to pinpoint.

3. Certain Prescription Drugs

Drug manufacturers are having problems keeping up with needs. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), some commonly used medications are currently suffering shortages, causing a lot of stress for patients and medical staff:

• Albuterol Sulfate Inhalational Solution: Used to treat symptoms of asthma, emphysema and other breathing conditions.

• Amoxicillin: This antibiotic is used to treat a variety of bacterial infections, including RSV, a respiratory illness that’s currently surging.
• Adderall: Compounds used to make Adderall, a drug used to manage ADHD symptoms, are experiencing in shortage.
• Epinephrine Auto-Injector (EpiPen): This medication is used to treat severe anaphylactic allergic reactions.

How to cope: In some cases, unexpectedly stopping a prescribed medication can lead to detrimental health effects. Adderall, for example, is a stimulant—which means patients can experience harsh withdrawals if they stop cold-turkey. If a medication you rely on is in short supply, discuss with your doctor or pharmacist whether any relevant substitutions to your prescriptions are available.

4. Baby Formula

Despite efforts from the federal government, the country continues to grapple with a baby formula shortage.

The shortage was caused by the temporary shutdown of a key formula plant in Michigan after contamination of some products caused bacterial infections in four infants—two of which died. The discovery also led to a recall of some formula made at the same plant, which exacerbated an already strained supply.

The Biden administration invoked the Defense Production Act to speed up the production of formula. Despite this, government officials have stated as recently as early November “there’s obviously still a problem” with getting baby formula on shelves and that it will take time for the shortage to ease.

How to cope: Since every baby’s needs are different and every family has different resources, there’s no blanket answer for how parents can cope with the formula shortage. The Department of Health and Human Services says that most babies “will do just fine” with different brands of formula, as long as they’re made from the same base.

Forbes Health has an extensive guide on navigating the baby formula shortage safely, as well as a guide to changing an infant’s formula.

5. Butter

We aren’t in an official butter shortage—yet. But experts are warning that the butter supply is dwindling ahead of the busy baking and cooking holiday season.

The biggest culprit threatening the butter supply is the production of milk, the main ingredient of butter. The number of dairy cows has dwindled as it has become more expensive to raise and keep them.

U.S. butter production has trended downward this year as a result, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

A smaller supply, and continued consumer demand, has made the cost of butter skyrocket nearly 27% year over year, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average price for a pound of butter was $3.14 for the week ending Oct. 29; around the same time last year, it was below $2.

How to cope: The worst move consumers can make is to start panic-buying butter. Since supplies are tight—but not in an official shortage—collective panic-buying could result in an actual shortage being triggered. If you do find yourself in a pinch without butter for baking, there are substitutes that can work in some recipes, including pumpkin puree and applesauce.

For other uses, there are vegan butter alternatives such as Earth Balance and Miyoko’s, which taste similar to real butter and aren’t like the plasticky margarine alternatives of years past. Most stores also carry imported butter brands like Kerrygold, although they typically carry a premium price tag.

Are Shortages the New Normal?

Continuous shortages may have consumers wondering if these supply disruptions are the new normal. But experts see a light at the end of the supply chain tunnel.

The beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic brought severe turmoil to supply chains as lockdown measures restricted production. The global supply chain is so tightly interconnected that those knots are still taking time to unravel.

When lockdowns eased, demand for many products shot up exponentially, but supplies have struggled to keep up. The war in Ukraine is further exacerbating these issues by shrinking many commodities used in the production process, including oil.

This perfect storm of misfortune is causing the supply chain to recover at a snail’s pace—but it is recovering. Data from the New York Fed’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index suggests that those pressures are starting to return to pre-Covid levels.

Supply chain disruptions are expected to return to “normal” in 2023, as reported by Bloomberg, although that recovery will vary by industry and region.

For now, consumers should expect shortages to remain a part of daily life for the foreseeable future.