It is to be expected that you will not be able to get ice when you visit your favorite supermarket to cool you down this summer.

During the pandemic it was toilet paper and with the beginning of the war in Ukraine sunflower oil, and now with the heat wave there is another product that you will practically not be able to buy in the units that you would like in one of your favorite supermarkets .

And it is that as supermarkets such as Mercadona or Consum have confirmed, huge demand for ice cubes is forcing these chain stores to limit their purchase by customers.

For example, Mercadona only allows the customer to take up to five bags of ice in one day, while Consum is stricter and allows a maximum purchase of two bags of ice per customer and during the same day.

And it is that although in previous summers it has also been hot, especially this summer is emerging as the one in which continuous heat waves do not stop happening, which is causing customers to go to their supermarkets to buy all the bags of ice they can on a daily basis, causing a shortage that had not been seen in recent times.

remember that this regulated limitation is totally legal in chain stores thanks to the Retail Trade Law that allows this limitation when there are objective causes and with the aim of guaranteeing supply, something that has been included since it was modified last March with Royal Decree Law 6/ 2022.

The ice producers explain that the price of plastic for its packaging, the rise in fuel used for transport and electricity have caused these stockouts. On the other hand, the fact that not enough stock has been kept during the winter causes this temporary shortage in summer.

Be that as it may, it does not seem that the problem is the same in all the autonomous communities, and on the other hand, the production of ice can be carried out in the client’s own refrigerator if it ends up requiring it.