Coronavirus covid 19: Kiwis stock up on nutty gold

Wellington's nut butter company Fix and Fogg doubled its sales of the gooey stuff in March, compared with the previous month.

Chief operating officer Thom Brooks said despite the increase, New Zealanders can munch away knowing their peanut butter supply won't be disruptedhas the company had moved its factory crew into two separate teams to keep workers safe - and ensure the country had a steady stream of the locally made favourite.

"We are really thankful to be in a position to still be operating and working really hard to make sure we can continue to do so."

Brooks said supermarkets had been trading like it was Christmas Eve.

"Our Everything Butter we've sold most jars of, and [also] really popular is our Double Trouble Super Crunchy."

He said he was impressed with his team pulling together through the pandemic.

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Nelson's Pics peanut butter company is also seeing demand soar for their nut butters.

Chief executive Stuart Macintosh said demand soared 50 per cent last month on March last year. "At this stage everything looks alright, because we have a supply of peanuts heading towards us and we managed to match that panic-buying increase with the stocks we had in inventory."

Macintosh said Australia and the UK had also increased nut butter demand.

"We have peanuts that will arrive here and as long as people just keep calm, there will be a sustainable supply for everyone."

He said there had been a degree of panic buying of peanut butter but it was completely unnecessary as there was plenty of peanut butter to go around.

"Stay safe, stay home, stay toasty," Brooks said.

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Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website