Supermarkets struggle to keep up with demand as worried shoppers continue to empty toilet paper shelves | St George & Sutherland Shire Leader

Residents of St George and Sutherland Shire continue to face toilet paper shortages as local supermarkets struggle to keep up with the increased demand caused by the panic caused by the coronavirus.

Readers turned to social media, including the leader's Facebook page, to share details of their difficulties finding supplies of toilet paper and other non-perishable items in local stores.

Meanwhile, Coles moved on Sunday to introduce a new package limit for customers.

An email sent to Flybuys customers yesterday afternoon said it would now apply the limit "so that toilet paper is available to more of our customers, especially the elderly and those who cannot buy in large volumes. "

Coles said the move followed "an unprecedented demand for toilet paper", which led them to "reluctantly introduce a temporary limit of four packs last week".

"Unfortunately, many stores are selling even less than an hour after delivery," said the email.

The move follows unprecedented supermarket scenes over the weekend, including an incident at the Woolworths store in Chullora, which resulted in two women accused of fighting.

Supermarkets in St George and Sutherland Shire are still struggling to keep up with demand for toilet paper and other items as residents rush to store supplies.

While the previous shortage was blamed on people who stockpiled or panicked to buy items amid fears about the worsening coronavirus situation, supply problems have now caused other problems .

Toilet paper is the most sought-after product, with supplies selling as soon as they are restocked by staff.

Caringbah Coles had no toilet paper on the shelves at 6 p.m. last night, while staff worked to restock many other non-perishable items.

Supply issues led Coles to join Woolworths yesterday to introduce limits on sales of toilet paper and other items, while Woolworths announced that it was keeping any hand sanitizer behind the counter.

Meanwhile, Woolworths Rewards customers received an email last night from Woolworths President and CEO Brad Banducci, providing an "important update on toilet paper and other essential items."

"We are working closely with our suppliers to get the products to the shelves as quickly as possible," he wrote.

“The manufacturers of Kleenex, Sorbent, Quilton and Woolworths' own line of bathroom tissue have all increased production to meet this very unusual demand.

"To make sure everyone has access to essential items, we've introduced common sense limits to a few products.

"We have limited toilet tissue to four packs per transaction and large rice packs (2 kg and over) to one per transaction.

"When available, the hand sanitizer is now available to customer service and limited to two per transaction.

"We are constantly monitoring the situation and will do our best to make all products freely available to everyone. However, if we find new shortages, we can introduce other limits."

Buyers have cleaned supermarket aisles across St George and Sutherland Shire, stocking up on toilet paper, non-perishable food and frozen food amid fears about the worsening coronavirus situation.

Whether you call it storage or buying panic, buyers have stripped the aisles of toilet paper and left some stores with limited stocks of items such as canned food, long-life milk and even dog food, while the hand sanitizer is also long gone.

Residents used social media to share images of naked shelves in Shire and St George supermarkets.

This comes after some health experts have suggested that people stock up on essentials and drugs in anticipation of a possible coronavirus outbreak here, which could force people to self – quarantine inside their homes for up to two weeks.

Woolworths in Caringbah ran out of toilet paper around 3 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, while many aisles and end fixtures were also very low.

Frozen food was recovered, while the rice shelves were also empty. Large holes existed in the aisles of canned food, while there was little long-term milk supply left.

Staff were busy replacing some items, but others appeared to be out of stock.

It was a similar story in other parts of the county, with people posting photos of empty shelves in Menai and Sylvania. One social media user said Coles at Sylvania ran out of toilet paper in the afternoon while another said she watched clients quarrel over paper toilet and that the staff had been "abused" at Menai Woolworths on Tuesday evening.

"At the moment everything is exhausted. I saw people almost fighting over toilet paper in Woolworths (Menai) last night and abusing the staff (because) there aren't any", said writes the woman on the Mums of the Shire Facebook page. .

A Menai woman said she went to three supermarkets, including Woolworths and Aldi, in search of toilet paper, but returned empty-handed. She said the Big W store was also short of toilet paper, baby wipes and other items, while the dog food supply was extremely low.

Hurstville buyers were also faced with rows of empty shelves, with the Woolworths store running out of toilet paper in the morning, according to a social media user.

Meanwhile, Woolworths has decided to limit customers to four packs of toilet paper per transaction in the coming days, despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison's assurances that toilet paper suppliers are struggling to keep up with increased demand.

Mr Morrison said at a press conference yesterday that he had discussed grocery supply issues with Woolworths and Coles, and had also been informed by the main Australian manufacturer of toilet paper Kimberly -Clark that it would increase production in South Australia to meet demand.

Mr Morrison urged the community to remain calm despite the increase in cases of COVID-19 – the name given to the disease caused by the coronavirus, which is now responsible for more than 3,100 deaths worldwide.