TORONTO -- Grocery store demand for beans during the COVID-19 pandemic is up between 鈥500 and 1,000 per cent,鈥 according to Canada鈥檚 biggest supermarket supplier.
Yash Karia, president and CEO of Agrocrop Exports, which supplies packaged beans, lentils, peas and other pulses to Canada鈥檚 largest grocery stores, said his company was struggling to keep up with demand.
鈥淪ales are through the roof, we have supplied three months in two weeks to them (grocery stores),鈥 Karia told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.
鈥淭hey want much more, we鈥檙e not able to keep up. I鈥檓 sure if I gave them six months they鈥檇 take it. People are just wiping out the supplies, we can only produce so much.鈥
Beans are a store cupboard staple and are being whipped off supermarket shelves faster than they can be restocked as people isolate at home for the coming weeks or even months.
Karia explained there will eventually come a limit to bean stock because it鈥檚 a crop.
But Canada is 鈥渂y far the world's largest grower of beans and lentils鈥 and Agrocrop the 鈥渓argest private label processor and exporter of consumer packaged beans and lentils to Europe and the USA,鈥
鈥淓ventually we鈥檒l run out of some beans,鈥 Karia said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a little worried what will happen after three months. If people are home they will buy more. There鈥檚 a lot of customers just now, maybe after COVID-19 there may not.鈥
Staff at Agrocrop, based in Bolton, Ont., are working longer hours over a six-day week to keep up with the surge in demand.
鈥淲e have unlimited orders and we鈥檙e struggling to keep up,鈥 Karia said.
The buying frenzy has also extended to lentils, Karia said, with the cheap and nutritious food with a long shelf life also in high demand.
In the U.S., that the American Pulse Association, which represents canners and suppliers, has seen a 40 per cent rise in sales.
