When panic buying stopped, the stockpiles started.

 

In the early days of the pandemic last year, 500ml dispensers of hand sanitiser were selling for as much as $28 a unit as consumers were swept up in a short-lived spree of panic buying.

 

It’s a different story today as the market seems to be awash with sanitiser, particularly the low alcohol variety that health authorities say is not totally effective against COVID-19.

 

In Sydney, Smithfield-based charity Good360 has had trouble due to lockdowns in distributing more than a million items of donated hand sanitiser and face masks, worth more $2.5 million.

 

In June, New Zealand’s OfficeMax (owned by Winc) undertook a mammoth task to donate more than 200,000 bottles of hand sanitiser to charities across New Zealand ahead of the cold and flu season, equal to more than NZ$1.9 million at retail value and the equivalent of 115 metric tonnes.

 

Kevin Obern, managing director of OfficeMax (pictured) said: “It’s important that our communities stay safe and healthy and we know that hand hygiene is a big part of that. Our aim is to redirect product, directly to the charities and organisations who need it most – I’d encourage community organisations to get in touch.”

 

As demand for hand sanitiser blasted off, suppliers placed large orders from overseas manufacturers while local businesses, such as boutique breweries and gin makers, converted their production lines to capitalise on the perceived product shortfall.

 

As an example, Lime Burners Distillery in Western Australia and cricketing great Shane Warne’s SevenZeroEight distillery pivoted their businesses from producing whiskey and gin to hand sanitiser. 

 

But as shipping containers full of cheaper, imported hand sanitiser arrived in the country within weeks, the distilleries were left with thousands of stockpiled product.