Barbadian Consumers Await Normalcy as Pine Hill Dairy Addresses Evaporated Milk Supply Shortage

Barbadian consumers will have to wait at least two more months for supplies of Pine Hill Dairy (PHD) evaporated milk to return to normal levels.

In the meantime, the dairy is putting measures in place to meet the demand for the products, and management is assuring the public the shortage is temporary.

“Like many global dairy operators, we are facing ongoing global supply chain challenges affecting the procurement of raw materials for our Sungold evaporated milk,” said commercial manager Khadija Marshall in a statement to the public.

“These challenges include disruptions in transportation, fluctuations in pricing, and competition for available inventory all of which have collectively impacted the dairy’s ability to maintain adequate stock levels.”

Milk powder is the key ingredient and according

to the statement, PHD was working with an alternative supplier and were at the quality assurance testing stage of their negotiations.

Gradual improvement

“The company is confident that consumers will see a gradual improvement in evaporated milk availability on store shelves in the coming weeks and should return to full production by September. In the meantime, the company has arranged the importation of temporary supplementary evaporated milk supplies to meet anticipated demand.”

A supervisor at a city supermarket who did not want to be named, said consumers were only now becoming aware of the shortage, because there were still large boxes on the shelves, but it was evident since May.

She said in spite of ordering more than usual, they used another brand of evaporated milk, but that was quickly snatched up by shoppers once they

recognised there was a shortage.

She said older shoppers prefer evaporated milk, but shoppers were using alternatives, including oats and almond milk. (