Severe charcoal shortage in the golden horseshoe?

[Lightning]

As the subject tile says, this is a question for the south central Ontario members.

The context for this question is this:  I heard from one of my family members that she couldn't find charcoal easily about a week ago down in the Fonthill/Pelham part of Ontario, down in the Niagara peninsula, and I mentioned that it seemed to be in stock up my way in Hamilton.

That changed sometime in the last week as I discovered today.  I needed a couple of things at Canadian Tire and I've got my annual seafood barbecue tomorrow plus a chicken I did on the rotisserie today so I planned on picking up a bag of Royal Oak lump charcoal while there and it was cleaned out.  The shelves were completely empty of charcoal.  The store was totally sold out of Royal Oak, lump and briquettes, Kingsford, the different kinds of Wicked Good charcoals they have, Maple Leaf lump and briquettes as well as the Master Chef store branded counterparts.  I checked a couple of other places on the way home before stores closed and every one was out of stock.

At home, I checked online all the box and hardware stores I could think of:

-  Canadian Tire
-  Lowe's
-  Home Depot
-  Home Hardware
-  Rona
-  Barbecue World
-  Barbecues Galore
-  Chadwicks and Hacks

The last three on the list don't have as wide a variety of charcoal listed as they have in previous years and seem to stick to the more expensive boutique charcoals, and I'm not sure if their websites list store inventory.  The others all came up empty for stock and I used the 'search nearby stores' function to look basically from Fort Erie through to Toronto and up to Barrie and other than the odd place that either has ample stock or is showing an inventory glitch, all sold out.

Does anybody have any clue what's going on?  Has charcoal suddenly become the new toilet paper?

[bait]

I was noticing the same thing in my area. I had to hit up 4 different stores today, and the only one that had anything only had a couple bags left. Heard from the clerks that they've been running short for weeks.

[ReanimatedRobot]

Everyone is stuck at home during peak grilling season so I imagine supply will take a bit to catch up with demand.  Fortunately I have plenty if stock.  Unfortunately it might be harder to find on clearance this winter.

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[DougWilsonsSlapper]

Yes.  Major shortage. 

Everyone is stuck at home during peak grilling season so I imagine supply will take a bit to catch up with demand.  Fortunately I have plenty if stock.  Unfortunately it might be harder to find on clearance this winter.

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[Darko]

I would imagine that the charcoal makers were shut down due to covid-19.

[HoosierKettle]

You can always burn wood down to coals. You just have to start earlier.


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[HoosierKettle]

I did notice Costco hasn't had charcoal for awhile and I thought that was unusual.


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[Walchit]

You can always burn wood down to coals. You just have to start earlier.


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+1 that's how I used to cook pre-Weber. Lol

I've been wanting to get some barrels and make my own lump

[Lightning]

Burning down wood into coals for barbecuing was one thought that crossed my mind.  It's actually been on the list of things to do for a friend and I for a while.

Anyways, I had to pick up a friend down in Welland yesterday which took me past the one store, a Canadian Tire in Grimsby, that had decent looking inventory listed online and I stocked up on the way before they closed.  They had Royal Oak lump and brigquettes, Kingsford, Maple Leaf briquettes and some Master Chef store branded Maple Leaf stuff.

I'm good to ride out the situation for now.  This morning around 11 AM, I took another quick look online and their stock's now picked over pretty badly too.  One of the friends who was over last night said he was going to head down and stock up too since he's low on charcoal as well but I don't know if he got there in time.  Now, from what I can see, it's a couple bags here, a couple bags there for most of south central Ontario.  This is crazy.


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[HoosierKettle]

At least you have gasoline to get it going


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[DougWilsonsSlapper]

I've been finding the Canadian Tire app awful for stock quotes.  Went to one yesterday where it said 17 Maple Leaf Lump bags were available.  None.

Burning down wood into coals for barbecuing was one thought that crossed my mind.  It's actually been on the list of things to do for a friend and I for a while.

Anyways, I had to pick up a friend down in Welland yesterday which took me past the one store, a Canadian Tire in Grimsby, that had decent looking inventory listed online and I stocked up on the way before they closed.  They had Royal Oak lump and brigquettes, Kingsford, Maple Leaf briquettes and some Master Chef store branded Maple Leaf stuff.

I'm good to ride out the situation for now.  This morning around 11 AM, I took another quick look online and their stock's now picked over pretty badly too.  One of the friends who was over last night said he was going to head down and stock up too since he's low on charcoal as well but I don't know if he got there in time.  Now, from what I can see, it's a couple bags here, a couple bags there for most of south central Ontario.  This is crazy.


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[Darko]

I'm still good with around 150 lbs, but It seems that prices have gone up quite a bit.

[Ashley Coalburn]

Sounds like a good smuggling opportunity! 

[ReanimatedRobot]

Guess I shouldn't have bragged at work about getting a good deal on charcoal several months back.  Might have people coming to me wanting some of that quality briquettes.

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[HoosierKettle]

I'm almost out. I haven't heard of any shortages in my area but I guess I'll find out soon enough.


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