Christchurch supermarket warehouses largely escaped Tuesday's earthquake unscathed but a shortage of staff could disrupt some food distribution to South Island stores.
Signs of shortages began to appear in Dunedin last night with Countdown Central running very low on bread, attributing the empty shelves to the earthquake.
Meeting demand from emergency services operating in the earthquake-hit city was a priority, but the two main supermarket operators said yesterday it was too early to say if South Island consumers would face product shortages.
Foodstuffs South Island chief executive Steve Anderson said at this stage supplies to other South Island centres from the Christchurch distribution centre were not affected.
The main priority had been supplying Christchurch with basic food items such as bottled water, given the damaged infrastructure.
Mr Anderson urged consumers not to panic-buy, saying stores of staple items were sufficient.
However, limits had been placed on the number an individual could buy.
Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises both announced yesterday that while their Christchurch distribution systems were largely unscathed, their central city supermarkets were quite badly affected.
Foodstuffs closed 10 city supermarkets overnight on Tuesday, but all but four had been reopened by late yesterday.
Progressive Enterprises, which operates the Woolworths, Countdown and Foodtown stores, reported its distribution centres were operating with minimal staff yesterday.
It was arranging additional supplies of essential items such as water to stores in the affected area.
"Team members who have been affected by this incident will continue to be encouraged to be with their families," a spokesman said.
"Those team members who are in a position to do so are working hard to get our stores operational and open."
Progressive stores sustained significant damage, after stock fell off shelves and food was left spoilt after refrigeration and electricity outages.
As of early yesterday afternoon, nine of the company's 15 city Countdown stores and Progressive's online shopping service were closed.
