Candy Cane Crisis As Industry Rocked By COVID And Peppermint Shortage
[Johnny Rapid and Candy Cane via Men.com]
The supply chain crisis is now taking its toll on…candy canes? It really is the end times:
Weakness in peppermint crops and COVID-caused logistical issues have created a problem for Big Candy.
“We only received half of our candy cane order for the holiday season and sold out almost immediately. We currently have zero in stock,” Mitchell Cohen, the owner of Economy Candy on the Lower East Side, told The Post. “Raw material and ingredient shortages globally have had quite an impact.”
Peppermint production in the United States has declined nearly 25 percent over the past decade, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The ripple effect is creating havoc in the gingerbread house construction sector.
“We can’t really do a gingerbread house without a candy cane tree, a candy cane door, or candy cane anything,” Cohen said.
“I can’t find candy canes anywhere,” lamented a blogger at New Jersey radio station WOBM. “And, it’s not like boxes are empty. There are no boxes.”
[NY Post: Candy cane shortage fueled by COVID, weak peppermint harvest]
