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Sriracha shortage sparks sky-high prices on San Antonio's Facebook Marketplace

Huy Fong Sriracha is currently unavailable for purchase on H-E-B's website.

By Brandon Rodriguez on Tue, Jul 11, 2023 at 2:04 pm

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Huy Fong Food's Sriracha sits among other sauces on a tray.

As a shortage of Huy Fong Foods Inc.'s Sriracha sauce rages on, an unopened bottle of the sought-after chili sauce has been listed with a $30 price tag on San Antonio’s Facebook Marketplace.

"Sealed 17oz Sriracha sauce [exp Nov. 2023]. Very difficult to find local due to shortage," the Tuesday, July 11, posting reads. An earlier posting for the same bottle listed it at $40.

Turns out, that may be a bargain. Mega-retailer Walmart is selling two bottles of the sauce packaged together with a $86.50 price tag. Meanwhile the red sauce with iconic green cap is unavailable for purchase at H-E-B, the Lone Star State's go-to grocer.

Screenshot / Facebook Marketplace

As of Tuesday, July 11, this bottle has a $30 price tag, down from an original $40.

In April 2022, Huy Fong Foods Inc. curtailed production because poor climate conditions severely damaged its red jalapeño pepper crop, a company letter to customers said. An intense drought scorched crops in the region of Mexico where the peppers are grown.

Although the company resumed production briefly in fall of 2022, that ended with another shortage of peppers, according to CBS News. The crisis has continued with no apparent end in sight.

Last summer, Bé Ù, a Vietnamese restaurant in East Hollywood, gave customers a free meal in exchange for each bottle of sriracha sauce they donated, reported Los Angeles TV station KTLA 5 .