clean dishes in dishwasher

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Shoppers have spent weeks lamenting the lack of dishwasher salt on social media

Supermarket shelves have been left stripped of dishwasher salt after the UK’s biggest supplier, Reckitt Benckiser, raised its prices.

At the time of writing, Reckitt brand Finish was missing from many of the major retailers. 

Finish Dishwasher Salt 2kg was out of stock on Morrisons’ website and a message flagged that the 5kg variant was “no longer stocked”. On Asda and Sainsbury’s sites, Finish’s dishwasher salt did not come up when searching the category, although specific listings pages were still live. Finish dishwasher salt was delisted from Tesco in October 2020.

Own label lines also look to have been hit. Tesco’s Dishwasher Salt Granules 3kg were unavailable online and in its Hackney Morning Lane Superstore, which The Grocer visited this week. Asda’s own-label dishwasher salt was similarly listed as unavailable online. However,  Morrisons still had own-label stock online at the time of writing.

An industry source told The Grocer of “supply issues across all the major retailers due to a price increase” from Reckitt, which owns Finish.

A RB spokeswoman said the brand was “in discussions with [its] customers about various products and that Finish Dishwasher Salt will be back in stock at Morrisons in the next few days”. Asda has found alternative suppliers, The Grocer understands.

Shoppers have spent weeks lamenting the lack of dishwasher salt on social media.The Grocer has approached Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Asda for comment.