Coronavirus: cause grocery store food and supply shortages by country worldwide 2020

As of March 15, 2020, almost nine out of ten respondents from the United Kingdom stated that they expected any food and supply shortages at local grocery stores during the coronavirus pandemic to be caused by people stockpiling goods as opposed to supply and distribution disruptions. In comparison, respondents from China and Russia believed that there was an almost equal chance of food and supply shortages to be due to stockpiling or supply chain disruption.

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Most likely perceived cause of food and supply shortages in local grocery stores due to coronavirus (COVID-19) worldwide as of March 15, 2020, by country*

Most likely cause of food and supply shortages	People stockpiling food and other products	Disruption in the supply and distribution of food and other products
Australia	86%	14%
Canada	75%	25%
France	87%	13%
Germany	76%	24%
Italy	79%	21%
Japan	79%	21%
Russia	51%	49%
United Kingdom	89%	11%
U.S.	81%	19%
Vietnam	66%	34%
China	54%	46%
India	60%	40%

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Release date

March 2020

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

March 12 to 14, 2020

Number of respondents

10,000 respondents

Age group

16-74 years

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

*This question was phrased by the source as follows: "If there is a shortage of food and supplies at my local grocery store, it will be because of…"

These are the results of an Ipsos survey conducted March 12th to 14th, 2020 on the Global Advisor online platform among 10,000 adults aged 18-74 in Canada and the United States and 16-74 in Australia, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Russia, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. Where available, tracking results from Wave 3, conducted February 28-29, February 14-15, and February 7-9 are presented. Sample sizes are consistent wave to wave.

The sample consists of approximately 1,000 individuals in each country. The samples in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. can be taken as representative of these countries’ general adult population under the age of 75.

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