Food supplies still low

Kangaroo Fuel owner Peter Meehan is running low on bread supplies at the store.

Rob Williams

IPSWICH supermarkets are continuing to run low on supplies of food, as panicked shoppers flock to reopened outlets.

As the grab for groceries continues, outraged customers have reported price hikes on staple items in some Ipswich convenience stores.

The Coles supermarket in the Ipswich CBD remains closed but outlets at Redbank and Riverlink have reopened.

The Ipswich central and Goodna Woolworths supermarkets remain closed but other outlets are open.

“Obviously we were hit quite hard by shopper demand earlier in the week,” Woolworths spokeswoman Clare Buchanan said. “We continue to have lingering shortages of supplies such as chicken and meat.”

Ms Buchanan said the reopening of Brismeat at Churchill would help improve supplies.

Amid the crisis there are claims some are benefiting from the groceries shortage, with reports from disgruntled customers about convenience stores hiking up prices for milk and bread.

In examples reported to The Queensland Times, an Ipswich store was alleged to be selling a loaf of bread for $9 and another pricing a loaf of bread at $10.

Silkstone resident Chris Mitchell said he was shocked when he found a local service station selling Woolworths-branded bread for $4 a loaf and Aldi two-litre milk for $4.50 a bottle, close to double their usual price.

“During this sort of crisis we should be going out of our way to help each other and these people are lining their pockets out of others’ desperation,” he said.

A spokesman from Lucky Seven Express at Leichhardt said reports of the store selling bread and milk for $10 each were inaccurate.

“We haven’t had any milk or bread during the flood period,” he said.

A 7-Eleven spokesman said claims that stores in Redbank and Bellbird Park selling two-litre milk for $10 each were also false.

“We didn’t even have milk in for three days. We just got it Thursday night, so how can we sell it for $10?” he said.

Reports of fuel shortages have also prompted many motorists to rush to service stations to fill up.

RACQ spokesman Joe Fitzgerald said while the motoring body had heard of a few incidents of fuel supplies running low, they did not anticipate a widespread problem in south-east Queensland.

“We have heard of shortages of E10, but that is being replaced by unleaded,” he said.

“If a particular brand of fuel is unavailable, it almost certainly will be available at another location.”