Other countries, full shelves: Only the Germans hoard

The war psychosis found its way into the supermarkets in Italy as suddenly as it disappeared again.

At the beginning of March, there were only empty shelves in some supermarkets for a few days because people hoarded flour and pasta, tomatoes and canned fish.

But everything has long been refilled, there are no bottlenecks.

Of course, everything is becoming noticeably more expensive, from bread and pasta to meat and fish to electricity and petrol.

However, there were no hamster purchases of toilet paper in Italy either now because of the Ukraine war or two years ago during the pandemic lockdown.

Because every bathroom here has a bidet.

There is no French word for buying hamsters, maybe that's why things remain quiet in the supermarkets in France: no empty shelves.

Confidence in their own farming seems to be high, and the Frenchman would rather store wine, cognac and tinned foie gras in stock than fill his basement with toilet paper.

There are only queues at the petrol stations when providers such as the supermarket chain E. Leclerc offer fuel at self-purchase prices.

There are energy and inflation subsidies for 38 million French, on April 1 (no April Fool's joke) the government will lower the price of fuel per liter by a flat rate of 15 cents for four months.

Two years ago in Spain, people stocked up on toilet paper.

Now they emptied the shelves with sunflower oil, which mostly comes from the Ukraine.

Flour, oatmeal and legumes were also sometimes scarce.

In fact, the Spaniards shouldn't have to worry about oil.

Almost half of the world's olive oil comes from the country.

However, it is more expensive than sunflower oil.

In Sweden, even during the pandemic, queues only formed to keep distance.

The main concern now is energy prices.

Many iodine tablets are sold in Finland for fear of a nuclear catastrophe.

Empty shelves only because of donations in kind

Unlike at the beginning of the corona pandemic, when entire pallets of toilet paper and shelves of pasta were bought empty, nobody in Austria has heard anything about panic buying.

At best, one could observe in the capital Vienna that a drugstore was bare of diapers and hygiene articles after the local parish youth had collected the corresponding products as donations in kind for a transport to the Ukraine.

In neighboring Hungary, too, there is still no inclination to buy certain foods in bulk.

However, many gas stations, especially in rural areas, have started to limit the amount of fuel they sell, to a maximum price of 25,000 forints, which is roughly enough for a normal tank of fuel.

The background is that the government has set a fuel price of 480 forints (1.29 euros) per liter of diesel and petrol.

So far, the rule in Great Britain has been: “Keep calm and carry on.” There are isolated reports of an increase in the number of petrol stations because prices are rising almost every day, but the situation is a far cry from last autumn, when there was a rush to the gas pumps led to supply chain collapses.

At that time there had been many reports of delivery bottlenecks as a result of Brexit.

In Poland, the big German issue is not a big issue: there are no hamster purchases, even though the country is so close to the war.

Where there is a lack of longer-lasting food or hygiene items, it is up to the Ukrainians who have entered the country - as of Thursday there were around two million people.

Supermarket chains report an increase in sales.

Not only do the refugees shop, but also the organizations that want to help in the neighboring country with donations in kind.