Why is there a Huy Fong Sriracha shortage? Details explored as brand blames climate change for price surge

A scarcity of a Mexican chili pepper continues to cause a Sriracha shortage in the market. Sriracha is a famous brand that produces hot sauce. Apparently, the majority of San Francisco's main grocery shops ran out of Huy Fong Foods' hot sauce bottles due to the Sriracha shortage. This scarcity drove the prices through the roof.

The food firm informed customers that the sauce will be unavailable for the next few months because of "severe weather conditions affecting the quality of chili peppers." Furthermore, the company blamed the chili scarcity on a drought in Mexico, where it purchases the red jalapenos used in the sauce.

Currently, the grocery stores in some sections of the country have already run out of supplies due to this Sriracha shortage.

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This incident of Sriracha shortage caused a major price hike

Prices rose as supply of the sauce continues to decrease (Image via Getty Images)

As the hot sauce has a cult following, when the news broke, several fans turned to social media to vent their dismay and post about panic purchases.

Huy Fong Foods told Forbes that, while the firm resumed "some" manufacturing last autumn, it is still experiencing a Sriracha shortage due to the scarcity of the pepper. This type of pepper is grown mostly in northern Mexico and is dependent on certain growth conditions.

A Huy Fong spokesperson told Food & Wine on Monday that the company blames the Sriracha shortage on an "unexpected crop failure" this spring. This situation hampered the chili harvest. Moreover, a company representative told the Los Angeles Times in April that the shortage was "unprecedented."

The company said in a statement:

“Although some production did resume this past fall season, we continue to have a limited supply that continues to affect our production. At this time, we have no estimations of when supply will increase.”

Hundreds of fake Huy Fong Sriracha bottles line the shelves at 168 Market in Alhambra, while the space dedicated for Huy Fong Foods bottles is empty. According to a market manager, when the store receives a shipment of the spicy sauce, it sells out within a day.

Due to the Sriracha shortage, some Bay Area supermarket retailers have raised their prices by a whopping 651%. The previously $3.99 per bottle hot sauce is now available in some retailers for $29.99, with some locations restricting customers to only two bottles at a time.

The co-owner of Pho Viet in Washington, D.C, Michael Csau, has recently paid significantly more for his Sriracha orders. He said:

"Usually when I bought one case, it was roughly around $30 to $32. Now it's up to $50, almost double the price. If it keeps going up, we cannot afford it."

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What is Huy Fong's Sriracha?

Huy Fong's Sriracha is a Californian business (Image via Getty Images)

Huy Fong's Sriracha sauce is a brand of sriracha, which is a Thai chili sauce. Huy Fong, a Chinese immigrant from Vietnam, created the sauce in 1980.

Huy Fong Foods uses approximately 50,000 tonnes of chilies per year to make its three distinct flavors of sauce. These include a chili-garlic sauce, a hot chili sauce and a sambal oelek. Fresh red jalapeno peppers, sugar, salt, garlic, and vinegar are used as ingredients to make these types of sauce.