Prices will stay high until there is enough supply that the hoarders finish buying their fill. After that, the stock should begin to stay on the shelves, and that's when prices will gradually go down, and sales to clear excess stock will start to occur around property tax time.
It's kind of crazy how many people will panic buy when prices are at the high point. If people went back to their normal buying habits prices would drop.
Yep. Several economists have commented on this phenomenon. Toilet paper was the most common example during the COVID lockdown. Once supplies return to normal, there is still a shortage for a while afterward because people can't help buying extra to continue to assuage their panic, and some don't stop until they have way too much. A friend of mine said his neighbor did that and only stopped when he took inventory in his garage one day and figured out he had over a four-year supply of toilet paper taking up space he could put to better use another way. So we'll see people buy extra primers for awhile.
"he had over a four-year supply of toilet paper taking up space ......."
I can see in my crystal ball the next new innovation: To stop stock-piling toilet paper, but really advertised as saving septic systems (and the planet), auto-dissolving toilet paper over a specified time........
