Gas stations starting to run out of gas -- add yours

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Are we starting the self fulfilling prophecy

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Gas stations in Alexandria, VA starting to run out of regular gas.

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shocking...

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NEW YORK -- Chicken, lumber, microchips, gas, steel, metals, chlorine and ketchup packets: What do they all have in common? They're all (nearly) impossible to find.

Shortages are popping up across the supply chain as the pandemic messes with shipping, demand, supply and all the other levers of the global economy.

Here's what's hard to get, why and for how long, according to CNN Business' writers.

Chicken

The fried chicken wars are putting a strain on the poultry population. Major chains, including KFC, Buffalo Wild Wings and Wingstop, are "paying steep prices" for chicken and suppliers are having trouble keeping up demand because of difficulties attracting workers, the Wall Street Journal reported this week.

That's proving to be a problem for KFC: Its revamped chicken sandwich is selling twice as well as its predecessor and becoming too popular to meet demand. Interest in the product, along with tight chicken supply, has made keeping pace with customers' orders the "main challenge" for KFC as it enters the second quarter, according to Yum CEO David Gibbs.

Some restaurants removed chicken tenders and Nashville Hot flavored chicken items from menus at some restaurants because of limited supply, WSJ reported.

Chlorine

Swimming pool owners scramble for supplies as nationwide chlorine shortage looks to dry up their plans for the summer.

Summer is around the corner, but anyone looking forward to a refreshing dip in the pool to cool off may be in for a big "shock." A chlorine shortage may make it more difficult for pool owners to buy the sanitizing tabs.

Chlorine supplies are running low due to a fire at a chemical plant in Louisiana last August that was damaged by Hurricane Laura. As a result, prices for tabs have skyrocketed. A quick look at Amazon shows that a 50-pound bucket of 3-inch chlorine tablets from the In the Swim brand now costs as much as $169.99, about double the normal cost.

"The extent of the chlorine shortage is still unknown," said B&B Pool and Spa Center, a Chestnut Ridge, New York-based retailer, on its website.

What's clear is that pool owners should consider stocking up sooner rather than later. "With regard to retail pricing, it is a fact that we are seeing increases across the industry," said Michael Egeck, CEO of pool supplies company Leslie's, during a February earnings conference call.

Computer chips

In the market for a new car, smartphone or washing machine this year? A global shortage of computer chips could mean you have to wait a while - and pay more.

A growing number of manufacturers around the world are having trouble securing supplies of semiconductors, delaying the production and delivery of goods and threatening to push up the prices paid by consumers.

Several factors are driving the crunch, which was initially concentrated in the auto industry. The first is the pandemic, which plunged the global economy into recession last year, upending supply chains and changing consumer shopping patterns. Car makers cut back orders for chips while tech companies, whose products were boosted by lockdown living, snapped up as many as they could.

The shortage is going from bad to worse, spreading from cars to consumer electronics. With the bulk of chip production concentrated in a handful of suppliers, analysts warn that the crunch is likely to last through 2021.

Gas

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