An increase in demand for essential items has left some supermarkets missing out as Northern Tasmania's major distributor urges against stockpiling and panic buying.
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Statewide Independent Wholesales supply Woolworths, IGA and other independent grocers out of their Western Junction warehouse.
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General manager David Lanham said they were experiencing Christmas-level demand which has led to some stores missing out.
"Demand is very high due to the unprecedented event that we've seen over recent weeks," he said.
"I think it's quite common knowledge that the demand is at Christmas levels which is putting a lot of pressure on our supply chain with in Tasmania."
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He said panic buying and issues with getting stock into Tasmania had created a situation where some stores weren't getting resupplied quick enough.
"I think we will get on top of that in the next week or so ... as long as the demand settles down and that we don't have this panic buying," Mr Lanham said.
He urged people to remain calm and go about their usual shopping without stockpiling.
"Remaining calm and ordering normally is a great assistance to make sure everybody gets their fair share," Mr Lanham said.
He said the company is working hard to ensure they can meet demand.
"Our team is working very, very hard and we were extending operational hours to try to meet the demand and look for all sorts of other ways that we can get additional stock into our facility," Mr Lanham said.
"[People] should be calm and people should buy normally because there is stock available, you may not get what you're exactly after but we're carrying 15,000 product lines in our shed and we have 1.5 million cartons of stock on hand."
In Parliament on Thursday Premier Peter Gutwein said he had been assured by Coles and Woolworths that their supply chains would remain open.
He said people should be sensible in their purchases.
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