The hamsters are on again!
This article is already partly sold out and is becoming more and more expensive
Created: 03/14/2022, 08:42
By: Nadja Hoffmann
The hamsters start again.
There were already empty shelves in Germany in March 2020.
© Christian Ditsch
In 2020, toilet paper was in short supply, in 2022 it will be sunflower oil: The war in Ukraine has led to empty supermarket shelves for the second time in the Corona crisis.
And to the fact that desperate drivers try to refuel with vegetable oil.
Rising prices, empty shelves: Sunflower oil is becoming more expensive and can hardly be found in some shops.
The hamster purchases are back!
And with them the memories of the first lockdown in 2020, when toilet paper became scarce.
Back then, Corona* was the trigger for hamsters, now it's the war in Ukraine.
The discounter Aldi is already reacting to the empty supermarket shelves: As the Lebensmittel Zeitung reports, customers are only allowed to take four bottles of their own brand with them.
Wheat products such as pasta and flour are similarly popular.
Why?
Ministry emphasizes: No food shortages are to be expected in Bavaria
Because the Ukraine* is one of the breadbaskets of Europe.
And, together with Russia, is one of the most important suppliers of sunflowers, rapeseed, flax and soya.
The trade association of the oilseed processing industry OVID is correspondingly concerned.
He expects “there will be restrictions on the flow of goods from the conflict region in the coming weeks and months”.
After all, according to OVID, 51 percent of all global sunflower oil exports come from Ukraine.
If there are bottlenecks there, according to the Bavarian Ministry of Agriculture, this will become a problem, especially in emerging and developing countries.
"Nutritional bottlenecks are not to be expected in Bavaria due to the current situation." Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU) emphasizes: "No one in Bavaria currently has to worry about their grocery shopping.
There is no reason to buy hamsters.”
Domino effect like in the Corona lockdown 2020
And yet: Pictures of empty supermarket shelves are already doing the rounds on social media platforms, and more and more people are buying in advance.
"This is the domino effect that we know from toilet paper," says Bernd Ohlmann, spokesman for the Bavarian trade association.
There is still no "fight for the last bottles" in the supermarkets.
"But the products are in greater demand," he says, referring to the association's current surveys.
That means: There is still enough oil, but due to the current development, it is now being bought by everyone and everywhere.
Vegetable oil: Cheaper alternative than diesel at the gas station
Some people even go one step further: In view of the astronomically high prices for diesel at the gas station, where you have to pay up to 2.28 euros per liter, they prefer to use cheaper heating oil or vegetable oil.
The latter only costs about 1.39 euros at the discounter.
A tank alternative, but the automobile club ADAC expressly warns against it.
Sunflower oil is too thick for the engines.
These would first have to be converted in order to be able to burn it without causing damage.
And: If vegetable oil is used as fuel, it has to be taxed.
According to the ADAC, the car manufacturers explicitly do not approve these oils.
*Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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